Hear my Song!
by Kuugen the Fox
Summary: There are many idols and stars in modern Tokyo, but one shines above others, Luka Megurine. Miku Hatsune, your everyday ordinary girl, aims to become like her. A songstress, a Idol. But nothing is as it seems in the music business. Shoujo-ai.
1. Stars and Students

**Hear My Song!**

Chapter I

_Stars and Students_

Checking her face and hair for the fourth time in twenty minutes, Miku put away her pocket mirror and tried to not let her nervousness get the better of her. She had good reason to be nervous, though. It had been a hard and steep path to get here, but now she was only minutes away from meeting the famous songstress Luka Megurine.

It was normal for Miku to admire Luka. She was only twenty and both of her singles had landed way up in the charts. Every girl in Miku's class, even in the whole school, looked up to Luka and dreamed of being in her position. But Miku wasn't just dreaming about it. Though she had worked hard every day and practiced in her free time, it had still been hard to win the competition and the first prize of recording a duet together with Luka.

There was a knock at the door. Opening it without waiting for an answer, the head of staff, whose name Miku just couldn't remember, came in. But instead of closing the door, he just stood there and waited for a few seconds. Then, with the elegance she admired, Luka Megurine walked in, smiling. Miku immediately jumped up.

"You didn't lie, Erico. She is really cute. Really fits the voice from the tapes," Luka said casually while looking at the contest winner.

Luka was every bit like Miku had imagined. The long pink hair was beautiful, and so were her blue eyes. It was a pity she was in casual clothes, jeans and a plain black T-shirt, and not wearing her stage outfit.

"Luka, be nice to her. I'm going to the recording room to tell the guys we're about ready to make the first recordings for the duet," the man called Erico said. He left quickly—but not without giving Luka a warning glare.

"Don't take him seriously," Luka said. She leaned against the wall. "So you're Miku," she said, as if to make sure she got it right.

"Yes, Miku Hatsune. It's nice to meet you, Miss—"

Miku was abruptly cut off before she could finish her greeting. "Luka is fine. It's not like you're just some fan." Luka smiled. The singer certainly didn't seem like the type to beat around the bush or to be overly polite. She continued to eye Miku like some exotic animal.

Miku just gave a nod. Luka's personality was quite different from what Miku had expected. That obvious glare didn't help to save the view that Miku had of Luka. But at least she still seemed like a nice person.

"Thank God someone that can actually sing won that contest. You see, my manager did the whole 'record a duet with Luka Megurine' thing without my consent! I can't believe that guy. Tch." Luka averted her eyes and seemed to try to stare a hole in the ground.

That was enough to shatter Miku's last delusions about the gentle, elegant and graceful Luka Megurine. But in a way, this Luka wasn't bad too. She seemed more…human and reachable than the idolized version. Miku wasn't sure how to deal with it for now, but she'd try her best to get along with her.

"Are you a student?" Luka went back to looking at Miku, who had sat down again, seeing as it was pretty pointless to be polite in front of this woman.

"Yes. I'm going to Yamaha High School. I'm a freshman there." Miku tried her brightest smile, and Luka answered that smile with one of her own.

"You're still a minor? Erico didn't tell me about that. Pity. I had planned to take you out drinking after this." Luka emitted a dangerous aura, one that smelled of scandal and chaos.

Miku didn't know what to say and decided to change the topic away from drinking parties. "What kind of song is the duet going to be?"

"There were no real plans since we didn't know who would win the contest. I assume you wrote the lyrics for a song, as we asked you to?" Luka put on a serious face, now that talk had shifted to business.

"W-what? I haven't heard of anything like that. I didn't write any lyrics!" Miku panicked a little bit. The contest finals had been three weeks ago, and Krypton Corporation had sent her a letter telling her the date to show up and the address of the agency's record studio. There had been no notice of anything like preparing lyrics!

"Don't fret. I was just joking," Luka said with a deadly serious expression. She then slightly averted her eyes again, grinning in a way only villains on television usually did.

Evil. The woman was clearly evil. Evil to the core. With a pitch-black soul. Miku took a deep breath and tried to calm down. What a mean prank to play on her when she was so nervous.

"The title for the song we're going to do is 'Distance.' It's different from the rest of the album. I'll show you the recording room. You should listen to the music once or twice before we try to do the vocals. I'll have to warn you, though. I've never sung with anyone in sync before." With another grin that would make the devil's advocate turn pale, Luka left the room ahead of Miku and waited for the green-haired student to follow.

Miku had seen bits of the studio before, like when they had directed her to the waiting room, but now she had a much better view of things. They walked past one recording studio where someone else was recording a song. Luka didn't seem to be in a hurry, but she walked at a fast tempo.

She also talked a lot. "It's unlikely we'll get this done in one go, so you'll probably have to come back here again. I'll show you around the perimeter once we finish exhausting the patience of the recording team."

They reached the recording room labeled as 3/2-C in no time. Luka pulled an ID card from her jeans' pocket and opened the door to the room. It was part audio room, part recording room, and Luka entered the audio part. Pulling up a pair of headphones, Luka signaled one of the staff members that was sitting in the recording room to play the music. She gave the headphones to Miku, then leaned against the wall next to her and waited.

Miku took the headphones and listened to the track. Once, then once more. The song was…how to describe it? It had a gentle feel but also sounded happy. It wasn't pop at all, it was more like a speedy ballad. Miku liked the song, although she figured it would be hard to sing together with someone she'd never sung with before.

Miku pulled off the headphones after the track had run through one more time. "It's a nice song. Are the lyrics difficult? I've never sung with someone else before, so I'm sorry if I mess up at first." Miku wasn't sure if she could really do this all of a sudden. From the sound, there seemed to be many interacting parts where they had to catch each other perfectly.

"Here are the lyrics." Luka had gotten a sheaf of papers from somewhere and now handed it to Miku. "I've been practicing them for a few days now, so I'll be able to cover you if you mess up."

Luka was making no secret out of her belief that even though Miku had won the contest, she was still just an amateur. Not a professional.

And she was right. Looking at the music, Miku had to take a deep breath. There were so many overlays and parts where they had to time their entries just right…

"Don't worry, nobody will bite your head off if we don't finish this today," Luka said. She took her place at the left microphone stand. "Let's try it once before we officially start."

Miku was holding tight onto the pages of music, trying to memorize the lyrics. The words themselves weren't particularly difficult. The hard part was timing when she had to come in and leave. Miku's expression changed to serious but affectionate, one to match Luka's.

"At least you seem motivated enough." Luka looked up at the big glass window and signaled the staff member to play the music.

Miku had no idea what she was in for.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

A good four hours later, Miku sat exhausted in the cafeteria of the agency with Luka. As she leaned back in her chair, she stared at the ceiling, unable to speak one more word. Was this what idols went through every time they recorded a song? This wasn't just hard work, this was downright slavery.

"Good work." Luka put two cans of juice down on the table, much to Miku's delight. Miku opened a can, took a big gulp, and sighed as the cold liquid rejuvenated her throat.

"Honestly, you weren't as bad as I thought you'd be. If you keep it up, we'll get it done on the next date." Luka opened her own can. She had seemed to be feeling pretty well and fit, and emptied her can in one greedy go.

Miku didn't know if Luka was making fun of her or praising her. But that was pretty irrelevant anyway now. Miku was way too tired to be conscious of the fact that Luka was still super popular and a rising star in the music industry. "I'm amazed you put up with this every day," Miku said. She put her arms on the table, resting her head on them.

"I actually did a lot more than just this. Today I trained for a dance choreography that's coming up soon, and then I studied a bit of English before it was time for me to work with you." Miku felt strange with Luka talking to her like they were close friends, even though they barely knew each other.

"I kind of want to die when I remember how far I am from home." Miku sighed and took another gulp from the can of juice. It was some odd vegetable juice.

"My home isn't far from here. If you want, you could stay over and I—" Luka stopped as if she felt a monstrous glare from behind. It was her manager, Erico.

"Erico, were you there the whole time?" Luka's face lost a bit of color. Miku sensed Luka's manager didn't take kindly to all the scandals she almost caused. Having a high school student stay over at her place and do who knows what with her was exactly the kind of trouble Luka was likely to get into.

"Yes. Miss Hatsune will be escorted to the exit now. You still have work to do, Luka." Erico pulled Luka by her arm and away before Miku could even say goodbye. Luka threw her a kiss, which caused Miku to remember that there were rumors that Luka wasn't just bilingual but also bisexual. From her previous experience, Miku was pretty sure that Luka had spread that rumor herself and then abused it to tease innocent fans. She just was that kind of woman.

Two security guards escorted Miku outside and informed her that she would hear from Luka's manager once the next date for the recording was set. After they took her guest ID, Miku made her way to the train station. It was a ten-minute ride to the station near her house. Thinking that she still had to make dinner for her cousins was sort of annoying. But there was no helping it.

Miku didn't notice just how tired she was until she almost fell asleep on the train. If she ended up cooking in this state, she would surely cut herself or worse. Leaving the station, she stopped by the supermarket on the corner to buy some cup ramen for her two cousins. She only wanted to go to bed now and it was barely six o'clock.

Miku was thinking back. Luka was still working at this hour? An idol's life really was hard. Dance routine, practicing English, recording a song and then even more work. Compared to that, her life as student was a lot easier, even though she worked part-time in a flower shop and did most of the house chores as well.

Coming home, Miku found an…interesting view greeting her. She had two cousins. Neru Akita, who was eighteen and worked for a writing agency, was the younger of the two. The other was Haku Yowane, who was sadly an unemployed NEET that spent almost her entire day drunk. The girl was practically a freeloader at their house. Since Neru paid most of the bills and was really close to Haku, Miku didn't mind it most of the time.

When Miku walked in, Neru was sitting on Haku's back, while Haku herself was lying on the ground, facedown. Neru was holding a big bottle that was without a doubt full of booze. Or not quite as full, knowing Haku.

The nature of this scenery was normal. Haku and Neru were really really close, and it was almost a daily occurrence for Neru to confiscate Haku's booze to prevent her addiction from getting even worse.

Neru launched a full assault of complaints against Miku all at once. "Miku, where the hell have you been? It's past six o'clock. I'm starving!" Neru thumped Haku's bottle down on the floor, careful to move it out of the white-haired woman's reach.

"I told you I had an appointment to record a song. Here's dinner. I'm going to bed." Miku was in no mood to deal with Neru's annoying antics, so she put the bag with the cup ramen on the table next to Neru and left for her room. The apartment was small, and she was lucky to have a room for herself. Neru and Haku shared one, mostly so that Neru could look after Haku.

Miku slammed her door shut and threw herself on her bed. She hadn't thought that the idol business would be this draining. She was too tired to get up now, so she'd take a shower in the morning. Thank God the next day was a Sunday, so she had no school and could sleep in a bit.

Getting up one last time, Miku undressed down to her underwear, undid the hair ties holding up her hair and crawled back into bed, not even turning on the lights once. Hugging the leek pillow she treasured, Miku was fast asleep after a few seconds.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

"What do you think of her?" Erico, a middle-aged man in a black suit, asked. He was Luka's manager, and he was sitting next to her while they were eating dinner. "You know, the green-haired girl that was there for the recording today."

"Miku? Well…honestly? She's got talent, but no stamina at all. I thought she'd fall asleep on the spot after we were done. She's the cute type, though. I like her." Luka sighed and thought of her biggest rival, Gumi. She was a popular songstress working for J-Net Corporation, a rival agency.

"I thought you might say that. I see some potential in her, but she'd need to work a lot on herself and her ability to sing to be able to survive in this business. If she even wants to, that is. Most give up right away after seeing how hard it is to be an idol." Erico sipped his wine.

"But personally…I do like her. She didn't get rude or make any sarcastic remarks the whole time, no matter how much I teased her." Luka put away her fork and knife and rested her head on the back of her chair.

"If all of your fans knew what a terrible person you are, your popularity would go down faster than a ball of lead," Erico sighed. Luka always made sure to act proper and idol-like under the eyes of fans and the mass media, but in private…

"It's a nice break to be able to act naturally with someone other than _you_."

Luka thought about Miku for a while after she had finished dinner. There was something interesting about her. Luka somehow knew that even if she didn't pretend to be who she was on-screen that Miku wouldn't hate her. Intuition, maybe?

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

Neru had somehow managed to stop Haku from getting back the booze bottle, and now they were eating cup ramen in the living room. Neru was quite a difficult person to be with. She was often snobbish, mean, and liked to annoy people just for the hell of it. Miku got a lighter treatment than total strangers, but there was only one person she opened her heart for.

Haku still had tears in her eyes, mourning the loss of yet another bottle of booze. She knew it wasn't good to drink this much, but she couldn't help it. When she was drunk, reality seemed a nicer place to be. Neru was gone a good portion of the day, and so was Miku. Haku was often all alone in their apartment, doing nothing but pitying herself.

They both ate in silence. Neru had always felt sorry for poor Haku, but she didn't want her to fall any deeper in the alcohol pitfall. Even if it meant hurting her by taking her booze away by force.

Neru finished first and then proceeded to stare at Haku. Sometimes she questioned herself. Was it really all right like this? After all, they were pretty close. Not as close as blood-related sisters, but they were a lot closer to each other than either of them were to Miku. But then…Haku was the only one who gave her this special feeling of being needed.

Haku had finished up her food as well and looked not very happily at the floor. She felt miserable for always causing trouble, for both Neru and Miku. It was just a circle of misery and self-pity.

Neru didn't feel well. She had worked a lot this last week and was exhausted, especially after continuously caring for Haku every day since Miku had started working part-time. "Let's go to bed."

Pulling Haku on the sleeve of her gray sweater, Neru got up and slowly dragged Haku along with her. The room was originally Neru's, and she only allowed Haku in there—mostly because of how untidy it was. Clothes were lying around everywhere. Neru also owned a cheap computer she used to write a novel separate from her job at the writing agency. The bed was no bigger than Miku's, and there was only one, despite the fact that two people lived in that room now.

"Neru…I'm sorry that I always cause trouble." Haku's voice was as sad as ever. Neru didn't understand how she had failed to find a career when she had a nice, melancholic voice like that.

"Don't worry." Neru walked closer and caressed Haku's cheek with the back of her hand. No one but Haku got to see this side of her. "I know you don't mean to." Standing on her tiptoes, Neru kissed Haku on the cheek, took her hand and pulled her towards the bed.

Neru pulled off the long jean skirt and plain yellow top she was wearing and just put it on a pile of other worn clothes. Haku was wearing long but tight jeans and a gray sweater, both of which she put away after undressing.

Neru knew the walls were thick so Miku wouldn't hear them, but she always thought about what the girl would think if she found out that she was sleeping with Haku. Would she be disgusted? Hate them? Move out? Neru sometimes treated Miku harshly, but she didn't hate her or want her to leave.

After she pulled the quiet woman toward her and then to the bed, Neru gently pushed her down, knelt next to Haku, and looked down at her. "I love you, Haku." It wasn't just something she said casually or often. Nobody but Haku had ever heard Neru say it.

With a faint smile, Haku closed her eyes and reached out to her lover, caressing her neck and drawing her in. The blond girl followed after without a word, lying down next to her cousin, looking at the calm face that Haku was now making. If only she could be like this outside of this room.

Sitting back up for just a moment, Neru untied her ponytail and let her long hair fall over her back. She then knelt over Haku and slowly moved downwards, strands of her hair tickling Haku, ever so slightly annoying her until only inches separated their faces.

In this dark room, Neru had shared so many nights with Haku. It had become so natural, so normal for them to be like this. Bridging the last gap, Neru closed her own eyes and passionately kissed Haku.

Maybe it had been pity or loneliness in the beginning that had caused them to fall together like this. Maybe it was both. But right now, Neru loved her cousin and wished for nothing more than her depression to end.

The kiss endured for a long time until Neru, cheeks red and hair falling over her face, finally broke it off. She grabbed the blanket they shared and covered both of them with it. Under the thick blanket, Neru could feel Haku's body heat, could feel her heartbeat.

Opening her sad red eyes, Haku laid her arms around the smaller blonde and showed a melancholic smile before kissing Neru. It was rare for Haku to take the initiative and Neru happily gave in to the kiss, lying on top of the taller woman, getting more aroused with every passing moment.

The moment yellow and red eyes met each other's gaze, everything seemed to stand still for just a little while. Neru's hands slowly found their way to Haku's neck and from there on, further down, drawing hot lines onto her skin.

A moan escaped the quiet girl when Neru reached her chest, playing gently with her nipples, teasing them. "Neru…" Haku's voice was never more than a whisper in bed, loud only enough to have her lover hear her. Opening her mouth a little bit, Haku closed her eyes and moved her face away in embarrassment. Neru couldn't help but smile at this. She happily responded to her by leaning down and emerging into a fiery deep kiss.

Not until Haku made a bold move and her hands moved to Neru's small chest did she stop. With a gasp for air, the small girl looked in surprise at Haku and then imitated her, grabbing Haku's breasts with her hands more roughly than before.

Moving about under the blanket, both of them could feel each other's body, each other's touch. And not until over an hour later did either of them fall asleep.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

The sound of the alarm. Miku murkily remembered disabling it before she went to bed the previous…

With a groan, she opened her green eyes just a bit to look for the source of the noise. It wasn't her alarm. It was the door. Someone was knocking on the door.

"Miku! Wake up already!" Neru was about to knock down the door from the sound of it.

Too sleepy to yell, Miku got up, looked at her alarm that showed…twelve-thirty? She had never been the type to sleep in this much.

"I'm awake…stop knocking…" Miku said as if to herself and started dressing. The knocking got louder with every passing second.

"_Miku!_ Are you in there?!" Neru yelled. Whenever Neru was like this, she was either hungry or in a bad mood and had to take it out on Miku. Was this retribution for the cup ramen last night? Seriously, that woman needed to get a grip on proper behavior…

Finally dressed in just a short green skirt and a black shirt, Miku stomped to her door and pulled it open to see her annoying cousin. "I am awake, stop knocking!" she yelled. Miku was patience in person in most things, but Neru really got on her nerves sometimes.

"Good, then you can make breakfast and…what's with _that_ face?"

Miku was averting her eyes and keeping her mouth shut to prevent bursting out in laughter. Neru's hair was standing in a thousand directions. The ultimate bed hair. And it looked especially hilarious since Neru didn't seem to know about it.

"Your hair…go look in a mirror." Miku got out without laughing too much. Her mood had seen an instant change from pissed off to amused. Neru really was impudent with things like this. True, her house chore skills were abysmal. Worse than Haku's. And that really was bad. Really, _really_ bad.

Neru had taken off to look in a mirror and a scream from the bathroom told Miku that she had found it. With a blazing red face, Neru vanished into her own room, likely to comb her hair.

Miku would prepare breakfast anyway. She was used to doing it. That wasn't what had pissed her off. It was Neru's princess-like attitude and how she treated Miku like a servant sometimes. Well, it was just her attitude. When Miku or Haku really needed her help, she didn't leave her family hanging.

With a sigh, Miku opened the fridge and looked in the breadbox to check for toppings and bread. None of them favored Japanese-style breakfast. But she had forgotten to go shopping the day before, so they had nothing at home. That meant she had to go shopping.

With a big sigh, Miku went back to her room, grabbed her handbag, and knocked on Neru's and Haku's door. "I'm going to buy breakfast." That should be enough. But really, how could she have forgotten…right. She had been so tired from her recording with Luka Megurine that she was had almost fallen asleep on the train back.

While Neru managed bills for electricity, water and the rent, Miku was in charge of the food bill. Neru often complained that she should buy more meat, but that was expensive. And with Haku being a freeloader, they couldn't exactly squander their money.

There was a bakery on the corner down the street. Maybe she would stop by the coffee shop that was on the way. She was still feeling sleepy. Walking out of their apartment, Miku made her way down the stairs. They lived in an apartment complex and occupied the top right apartment. Miku was halfway down when she heard someone calling to her.

"Ah, Miku. Morning!" Looking up, a short blond girl was looking out of a window from the apartment complex next door. It was Rin Kagamine, one of the Kagamine twins. The pair lived alone, only supervised by a social worker. Miku envied them. They went to a music-oriented middle school and their tuition was being paid by a fund for young promising musicians.

"You're going shopping? Perfect. I'm sending Len with you!" Rin yelled down, knowing that Miku was in charge of shopping. Rin was a loud, energetic and cheeky girl, the complete opposite of her brother, Len, who was calm, composed, and more on the gentle side, but also a klutz on occasions.

Miku didn't want to yell this early, for it was still morning for her, and just nodded. At least Len was much easier to bear than Rin. The girl would stop at every other shop, looking for things and often buying stuff nobody needed. Miku liked her a lot for her cheerful personality, but hoped that her cheeky and wild side would go away with adolescence.

A few minutes later, a pretty out-of-breath Len Kagamine came running down the stairs, a rucksack on his back. "Sorry, Miku, Rin is always so irresponsible." Len often felt responsible for the nonsense his sister caused. More often than not, he also served as Rin's scapegoat or guinea pig, which he wasn't very happy with.

"It's just how she is. If you stood up to her more, she wouldn't order you around like that," Miku said, but knew exactly what kind of answer Len would give. He would wave his hand erratically in front of his face and make big eyes, like someone had just proposed flying to the moon.

"What? Miku, you know how scary Rin can be! Impossible, absolutely impossible!" And there it was. The waving. The big eyes.

Miku burst out laughing and it got only worse when Len acted all confused about it and asked her what had been so funny. The twins made a great team, even though Rin constantly bossed her brother around. Only shaking her head, Miku walked past Len, not telling him that he was really predictable.

"What are you going to buy?" Len tried to change the subject, and Miku felt it would be cruel to tease the poor guy any more than this, so she went along. "Rin made a dozen impossible requests as usual, so I'm just going to buy bread and some stuff to make sandwiches." Len would make a good husband in the future.

"The same. I was too tired yesterday to go shopping and only got the other two cup ramen for dinner." Miku suddenly remembered that she had told the twins about her recording and that Len was probably also sent along to find out how it went.

"I am so jealous. To record a duet with Luka Megurine must've been really awesome, right?" Len was shining like a kid that had just gotten some candy.

"It was…hard. Really. I have no idea how Luka does all that work every day. I was so tired after four hours of recording that I thought I'd fall asleep walking."

Miku told the twin of her experience and didn't notice how unusually quiet Len was being until she saw how his eyes had gotten.

"What? Did I say something weird?" Miku was now thinking about it. No…nothing weird.

"You call her just Luka? Wow. You two must've really gotten along." Len had no idea. Luka in flesh and blood was nothing like the television idolized star he knew.

Miku didn't want to destroy his image of Luka, so she kept quiet about Luka's true personality. But it made sense now that she thought about it. Idols were idols because they were unlike real people. Special and gifted. It must be hard on Luka to keep that charade up every time she appeared on television or in an interview.

"We worked together, so she said it was okay to just call her Luka," Miku said casually. In truth, Luka seemed to hate the whole "Miss Megurine" nonsense, especially from fellow songstresses. Miku herself was astonished by how quickly she had gotten used to Luka's antics and behavior. It almost seemed natural for her to call her Luka. But if she did that in front of some other fans, they might just eat her alive.

They were almost at the bakery when a mountain of bread walked out the door. More accurately, it was a girl about the size of Miku carrying a mountain of French bread—a good dozen loaves. And, as the bystanders expected, it only took a few steps for her to stumble and hit the ground violently. Miku and Len had anticipated as much and had their hands, most literally, full catching the bread that was sent flying.

"Ow…shit!" the girl cursed. Miku wasn't used to such a cute girl saying "shit" openly like that. She slowly got up and Miku then recognized who it was—one of the waitresses from the coffee shop around the corner. Her name was…Miku just couldn't remember. But she remembered her. Nobody else had bright red hair that resembled…_drills_…more than anything else. But boy, did Miku learn the hard way to never actually say that to her.

"Are you okay?" Miku helped the girl up and pointed at Len. "Your bread. You might wanna take some off his load." Len was balancing ten loaves of French bread and could have easily gone to the circus with that.

"Thank God they didn't go to waste. Thank you so much." The girl seemed very happy. A bit _too_ happy for just bread. Pulling a few loaves of bread from Len's pile, she bit her lip and looked around. "Can you two do me a favor and help me carry these to the coffee shop around the corner?"

They had no idea who the girl was except she worked at that coffee shop and that she was a weirdo. Not only did she buy _way_ too much bread (who in God's name was going to eat all that?) but she also failed to think about how to transport it. She couldn't really have thought that she would be able to carry a dozen loaves of bread that distance without falling.

With a sigh, Miku nodded and took two more loaves of French bread from Len's pile, who was now finally able to see what was in front of him again. "That was really dangerous," he said to the girl. "You should be more careful."

"We were going to the coffee shop anyway. The bakery is probably all out of French bread now," Miku jokingly said, and knew it was most likely true.

The three of them went around the corner and reached the coffee shop in a matter of minutes. It was a small shop that was in a quiet street. Mostly students of the nearby university came here, but Miku liked the atmosphere of the place. It was filled with old wooden tables and it was clear from the decorating that the owner really cared for the place. The owner…speaking of her, she was an very odd person. A giant. Literally.

"Ruuuko!" The girl yelled and everyone in there knew she was yelling for the owner. From behind the counter, a very tall woman emerged, easily measuring two meters. Miku was always sort of frightened by the height, but the woman was a really affectionate person.

"I knew you'd buy too much again. That's why I wanted Ritsu to go with you…" Either she had just woken up or was in a natural mode of drowsiness. Miku had never seen the woman with the mismatched eyes seem really awake, and she came here quite often.

"Hello. I see you helped Teto out. Thanks, you two." Her sign of gratitude was followed by one of sleepiness, a big yawn. "Teto, I told you _two_. Not twelve."

The owner, Ruko Yokune, wasn't in fact the actual owner. She was just running the shop instead of the owner who was always traveling around. He opened the coffee shop in memory of his dead wife and then looked for someone to run it for him.

"You said two. So I got you one, Ritsu one, and ten for me," the girl, called Teto, answered with a deadly serious expression. Miku remembered now. She was the waitress that sometimes messed up orders.

Then it hit Miku. Ten loaves of French bread? Ten?! She looked at the girl. She was no taller than Miku and just as slim, so where in the world could she put ten loaves of French bread? Len was making an odd face, like the ones usually seen in anime. Miku stomped on his foot, not quite gently, so he stopped making that face. It was really weird.

"Ah, I'm Teto. Teto Kasane. Nice tchu meetcha!" The girl was already eating the first loaf halfway in her greeting.

Ruko took the remaining eleven loaves of French bread and put them behind the counter in a basket. "Next time I'll send Ritsu shopping," Ruko complained.

Miku and Len were standing somewhat dumbstruck in the entrance when someone behind them coughed and they found their way back to reality. Moving to a nearby table, they sat down, both watching the short red-haired girl arguing about the bread with the super-tall black-haired woman for a while until an extremely cute waitress was suddenly standing there, trying to take their orders.

"One coffee, with milk and sugar. Thank you." Miku was a little perplexed when the waitress just stood there, apparently looking at Len, who was making yet another odd face. Had Rin taught him that? Miku would need to have a word with this sister of his. Giving him a knock with her elbow, Len finally got a grip and ordered the same as Miku.

"That waitress was really cute. I'm here pretty often, but I've never noticed her before," Miku said casually, expecting a comment from Len. Instead, silence followed. Miku looked to her side to see Len just sitting there with one of those super-obvious "I'm in love" expressions.

"Get a grip already." Miku shook him slightly when she noticed what she had been doing the whole morning. "Sorry, Len, I'm almost acting like Rin." Miku was embarrassed how easily she fell prey to Len's defenselessness.

"That's okay. My sister is a lot worse." Len tried to force a smile but gave up midway and let out a sigh. At least they didn't share a room anymore since they'd moved to Tokyo.

After a few minutes of quietly watching the scene Teto was making when Ruko confiscated the leftover French bread, their coffee arrived. Miku couldn't help but eye the waitress for a bit. Why had she never noticed a girl this cute before? She had to keep Len occupied before he could willingly become the slave of this girl. How old was she? She was only about as tall as Miku, but the maid outfit concealed her curves a bit. Miku guessed that she probably wasn't older than she was.

The waitress left for another table and Miku found herself without a spoon. Len didn't have one either. Did she just forget it? Maybe she was a little air-headed. Miku got up and walked to the counter where they kept the tableware and took two spoons.

"How are things at school, Len?" Miku waved the spoon in front of the spaced-out Len and repeated her question. He was totally lovestruck. Great. Rin would probably blame that on her for all she knew.

Patting the spoon against his forehead, Len finally reacted. "Go ask her for her number or something," Miku said with a slightly annoyed face. She couldn't stand it when someone acted like they were in a different universe just because someone was cute.

"Oh, no, it's not like that. It's just…uhh…" Len tried to find the right words for an excuse, but Miku's glare gave away that it was useless. He just concentrated on his coffee and then remembered Miku's question.

"Rin's grades are as bad as ever. She's the best in the school at vocals but terrible at about anything else. When I get back home, I'm going to have to help her with her math homework. Rin and math don't mix. It's like trying to teach a ferret to sit still. Oh, don't tell her I said that…" Len made a pleading gesture and took a sip of his coffee.

Miku smiled at that last comment, leaned back and closed her eyes for a moment. She was still tired from the day before. True, she had heard working as idol was all about stamina, but this was just a joke. Four hours without a break, and Luka drove her on like a slave. But Miku found it odd that Luka hadn't blamed her for any mistakes. She just had her repeat each part until she had it down pat.

After a few minutes of just talking about school and grades, an angry and sulking Teto came to their table and sat down. "Thanks for before. Ruko is being a mean bitch and took away all of my bread."

Miku was a bit amazed at what a foul mouth this girl had. "Were you really going to eat ten loaves of bread?" Miku paused, leaned a bit forward and lowered her voice, so that Len couldn't hear them talking. "How do you keep your figure like that? Tell me."

Teto looked slightly confused and then seemed to be deep in thought. "I don't really eat anything with the bread. Just the bread itself. And if Ritsu doesn't cook, that's all I eat," Teto said with a bright smile, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Miku made a sort of "ehh…" face and returned to her sitting position. She had finished her coffee and Len was about done as well. "Sorry, Teto, but we need to get going. We were originally going to buy breakfast. My cousins are probably already dead on the floor," Miku said, knowing that Neru was prone to such antics.

"Okay. I need to get to work or else I'm gonna have to listen to Ritsu's boasting all day. See you two around." Teto didn't wait for them to leave. She simply jumped up and took their empty cups with her. "Don't worry about the coffee, I'll pay for you as a thank you." Teto vanished behind the counter for a moment and then into a back room, probably going to change.

"If I ever meet a weirder girl, so God help me…" Miku sighed with a smile and got up. Len followed after and they made their way back to the bakery, where they hopefully had re-stocked on bread.

"They're probably rich in there with someone like Teto living nearby…" Len said, and did some math in his head, resulting in a slight headache.

"I need to buy some other things as well, Miku. I'll see you later." Len had stopped in front of a small shop that was selling vegetables and fruits. Waving at Miku and waiting for her to give a sign she had heard him, Len walked into the shop, out of Miku's line of sight.

"I better hurry, or Neru is going to eat a pillow or something…" Miku jokingly said and entered the bakery.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

Miku was always fascinated by how Haku's mood changed when Neru was near her. During the week, her mood was pretty bad when Neru was out for the entire day working and Haku was alone at home. But on Sundays, Haku seemed almost like a normal person. The three of them had just finished breakfast when Haku lay down on the floor, going lap-pillow with Neru. Miku thought that Haku seemed like an enormously oversized cat right now.

Neru was already using her cell phone and doing her favorite thing—pissing off people on message boards. Miku didn't know what the fun was in "trolling" people, but Neru got a real kick out of that. The contrast of doing that and patting Haku's head all at once was one Miku had just accepted as an odd wink of fate and let it go.

Seconds after thinking about how Neru was wasting her time spending so much time on her cell phone, Miku's own cell rang, the ringtone being the ever so popular "RIP=Release" single that had brought Luka instant fame overnight. Unknown number.

"Hatsune. Hello?" Miku greeted the caller politely, not knowing who was on the other end. And said other end almost instantly broke out in laughter and said to someone else: "Dammit, Erico, I owe you sushi now." That was Luka's voice.

Miku turned around as if to shield her words from reaching Neru, who was a big fan of Luka's. If she knew that the idol was right now on her phone, she'd never let her talk in peace. "Luka? How did you get my number?"

"Secret." Miku could virtually see Luka grinning on the other side, well knowing how such a thing would annoy about anyone. "But that's not important. Are you free today, Miku? After remixing the tapes, the producer said we only need the last bit to finish the song, and the studio is empty today."

Work. Luka called for work. Stupid workaholic idol. Miku let out a sigh and even though she wasn't very happy about working on that song for two days in a row, she said yes and asked for a time to show up.

"Best would be you get moving right now. And wear something cute. I'll take you for lunch afterwards." Luka hung up without waiting for a response. Wear something cute? Luka was talking (and probably thinking) like some old perverted man. But…well. It couldn't hurt to dress up a little.

"I'm going out for a bit. Since we had breakfast this late, lunch is canceled. I'll make spaghetti for dinner," Miku directed briefly towards Neru, who made a mental note but seemed too absorbed into her little game of pissing people off.

She chose to wear a knee-length green skirt (most of her favorite clothes were some variation of green) and a black sleeveless top. Binding her hair back into twin tails and looking into the big mirror on her desk, Miku paused for a second. Just who was she dressing up for? Luka? Well, she _did_ ask her to, but…

Deciding that her usual self was cute enough, Miku left the apartment. The other two remained as they were, like stationary objects. Haku seemed to be asleep, though. Closing the door, Miku left in a hurry. If she really had to cook this evening, she'd better get done with her work soon. Luka even wanted to take her out for lunch. Thank God they still had enough things for spaghetti at home.

Miku took the shortcut through the little park behind her apartment to the next station and immediately blessed her good luck. Miku had heard that Gumi often went and socialized with her fans and even spontaneously sung for people, but she had never had the luck to see Gumi herself. The star from J-Net, the other big music agency here in Tokyo, rivaling Krypton—Gumi.

It was a stage name, and the idol was really hard on people who tried to find out her real name. The agency had done a good job of keeping that a secret. Gumi was just standing there, singing for a bunch of kids from the neighborhood. She really must've loved being around her fans.

She seemed to have finished one song just now as she bowed for the happy pack as they gave a round of applause. Miku stood nearby and looked surprised to see Gumi here. Their eyes met and Gumi excused herself from the kids and came up to Miku.

Surprised, Miku was suddenly happy she had at least cared enough for her appearance to do her hair and pick out some nice clothes. At least the idol wouldn't think she was a sloth. Not knowing what to say, Miku got a little bit nervous. But she didn't have to say anything. Gumi stopped right in front of her and took a closer look.

"I knew it. You're the winner of the National Yamaha Songstress Competition, aren't you? Um…I'm sorry, but I really can't remember your name." Gumi was a bit perplexed by how relieved Miku seemed to be.

Thank God Gumi was really like she had imagined. Luka must've been the oddball in the idol business. Miku followed Gumi's blog and Twitter and she often talked directly with fans. "Miku. Miku Hatsune." She introduced herself and bowed slightly.

"It seems you know who I am." Gumi smiled. "I heard that you are going to record a song with Luka? Did you meet her already?" Gumi had met Luka before and even though they were not on very good terms due to their business, they had not been hostile to each other…even though Gumi had been a bit put off by Luka's flirtations, teasing or not.

"I did." Those two words carried so much disappointment with it that Gumi knew instantly that Luka had shown her how she really was.

Well, that was to be expected. Gumi didn't like Luka very much, but she admired her hard work and stamina. Since they did not appeal to the same audience, their only real rivalry was in the charts, and Gumi had been constantly losing to Luka there.

"Don't take it so hard. Want to stay and hear a song? I was going to sing a song from my new album _Aimo_ next for these kids," Gumi offered. Miku knew that doing all this was good for Gumi's popularity, but apparently she was doing it mainly because she liked being around people and making them happy with her music.

"Actually, I am on my way to the train station to finish the recording from yesterday. Luka called me over all of a sudden." Miku declined the offer and regretted meeting Gumi exactly today when she had no time. Keeping Luka waiting wasn't a very good idea, given her personality. "I need to get going, but nice meeting you. You're every bit as nice as I imagined." Miku tried to take off just to be held back by Gumi.

"Can you give me your cell phone number? Who knows, maybe you'll become famous." Surely Gumi didn't have any ulterior motive for asking her…although she'd probably prefer Miku to work for J-Net if it came to that.

"Sure." Miku handed her cell over to Gumi, who entered Miku's number into her own cell. "Didn't think I'd ever get someone as famous as you to ask me for my number." Miku smiled nervously and got her cell back.

"I hope you understand I can't give you my number. My manager would have a seizure. She's really scary sometimes." Gumi sighed. Even idols had their own problems. Thinking back, Luka seemed to be quite wary of her manager as well. Miku wondered what kind of person was able to keep these celebrities in check.

"No problem." Miku was less nervous now, seeing Gumi was only human too. A look on the digital display of her cell told her she had to run if she wanted to get the train. "Sorry, but I really need to run now!" Miku almost yelled while already running, leaving Gumi behind.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

After only an hour and a half, they were finished. Finally finished. Luka grabbed Miku before her manager could show up and they escaped through one of the back doors for personnel. Miku was a bit bothered by the issue of just leaving without notice.

Luka had changed her hair into a ponytail, wore some cheap jeans and plain top and just as cheap sunglasses. Aside from the hair color, nobody would've guess she was Luka Megurine. Miku also questioned the choice of her clothes. After all, Luka had told her to dress up, and now she was running around like that.

"There is a nice ice cream shop not too far. Someone from the agency owns it, so we can go there without having to worry about people finding out who I am." Luka was more or less dragging Miku forcefully with her. Miku didn't know of any ice cream shops, at least not in the vicinity.

"Then why did you dress like that? Couldn't you have gone as you are?" She couldn't keep up with Luka's way of thinking. Well, they did have to get there somehow, but then again…Luka was famous, but would people instantly recognize her? Her pink hair didn't stand out as much as it used to, since there were a lot of people imitating Luka right now.

In general, the latest idol trend seemed to cause people to run around with the oddest hairstyles. Miku had been dyeing her hair like this for many years now and it made her special…until everyone else started copying people like Gumi and Luka, who had exotic and unnatural hair colors.

Luka didn't answer the previous question and dragged Miku along. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Just how far were they going to walk? Miku was pretty sure it would be faster to walk back from here than take the next train.

Miku wasn't familiar with the area they were now in, as it was exactly between the agency and her home. Her school was in the other direction, so she rarely if ever came here. The street was lively, but not polluted. The atmosphere was nice and it had a western feel to it, like one of these streets that they filmed dramas in.

Luka walked, with perfect aim, towards a small ice cream shop that had no particular name nor did it seem really special. Seeing the owner made Miku feel slightly irritated. He was a blue-haired man that she had seen before. But she couldn't remember where.

"Kaito. Hey, Ka-i-to!" Luka waved from a distance and walked straight towards the counter. There were a few tables just outside the shop and maybe half a dozen tables inside. Two couples were sitting outside, emitting an obvious romantic aura.

"Hi Luka," Kaito answered with a gentle smile. The first impression anyone got from Kaito was that he was a nice guy. The "best friend" version of a nice guy. And Luka seemed to know him well. Miku didn't really catch most of what they discussed, but once they were through, the man's attention shifted to Miku.

"Your new potential girlfriend? She looks really cute." Now _that_ was a really blunt and direct guy. He wasn't bad-looking and seemed nice enough, but with an attitude like that…

"Kaito, that habit you have of talking without thinking is what stops you from having any success with the girls. That's Miku Hatsune, the winner of the competition that ran recently. We just finished recording a duet." Luka laughed him off and ignored his question completely. She didn't exactly know what she saw in Miku. Just because she enjoyed being a flirt, people always thought she'd go out with about anyone.

"I'll get the usual. It's my treat, Miku. Choose what you want." Luka left her standing there and went to sit down in the back. Luka didn't like to sit outside or near the entrance and be victim to people's curiosity.

"It takes a lot to put up with her, doesn't it?" Kaito talked to Miku as if they had been friends forever. Oddly, it didn't feel wrong. Kaito seemed to have a natural talent for getting along with people.

Miku just nodded and took the card, picking pistachio ice cream. She always liked to try out new foods, and that one seemed pretty good. Kaito started preparing the ice and Miku went to sit down with Luka. Did that woman ever consider waiting for others?

"He's a nice guy. He also works at the agency, but his singles have been selling pretty badly so he runs this shop. Speaking of people that work at the agency—you see that booze shop across the street? The woman running that one is also working for us." Luka leaned forward, dangerously close to Miku's face.

On instinct, Miku flinched a bit, but even so, their faces were barely inches apart. Up this close, Luka seemed instantly quite as beautiful as before, even with her hair up like that. Miku wasn't the type to hunt after romance, but this moment had her heart beating a little faster.

"It's a secret, but Kaito has been trying to ask her out since forever. You saw how he is, though. He always makes her angry with his honest-to-God remarks." Luka noticed how nervous Miku had gotten once she had leaned in and moved in even more, acting like she was about to kiss the girl—just to stop at the last second, pull back, and start giggling to herself.

Miku's cheeks had taken a deep shade of red, and she knew it was useless to try to hide her nervousness. "Don't worry, not even I would just randomly kiss you." Luka waved her hand and grinned at Miku.

"You're a terrible person, Luka." Miku sulked and looked away. Spending a few seconds in silence, Luka leaned back on the chair and stretched her arms out, sighing.

"It feels good to act normally with someone who's not my manager. I know I'm not the nicest person, but I can try if I must." Luka loved to tease people, but she knew when enough was enough. And that point had now been reached. "I'm thankful you didn't get angry and leave yet." Luka was almost a bit perplexed that Miku hadn't.

"One of my cousins I live with is one hell of a lot worse than you. So I guess I'm a little used to this." Miku wasn't particularly happy about Luka's personality, but at least that woman knew that she was a difficult person, unlike a certain someone in Miku's family.

Miku's ice cream came first. "A Pistachio Carnival for the young lady." He put the ice cream cup down and left to prepare Luka's.

"I think I saw one of his CDs once. I remember seeing his face somewhere," Miku said in between eating bits of her ice. It was really delicious. Not watery, as pistachio ice often happened to be but also not so strong that one couldn't taste anything else for a while.

"He does a good job of singing, to be honest, but his first single was pretty rushed by the agency and sold really badly. He still hasn't recovered from the bad publicity." Luka played with a strand of hair that had gotten loose from her ponytail.

Miku pitied Kaito a bit. Talking with the spoon in her mouth was bad manners, but as Luka didn't seem to care about that at all, why should she? "Why isn't the agency doing anything? Like making a promo song?" Miku asked, and knew the answer alone from Luka's face.

Luka was actually embarrassed from that question and averted her eyes, looking at the wall. "I guess that's my fault. The agency is working hard to make me a star, so Kaito and Meiko are pretty much on their own for now." She did sometimes feel responsible for their low popularity, but neither of them blamed her, for which she was quite grateful.

Miku thought that Meiko must be the woman that Luka had mentioned before. Working in a booze shop was an odd occupation for a songstress, though. If she was anything like Kaito, then they would get along really well.

"One Peach Parvilietti." Kaito put down a pink and pinker ice cup in front of Luka, who stared at it with sparkling eyes.

Today was apparently a slow business day, and Kaito had some free time as he sat down on a chair next to them and started up a conversation. "How did the recording go? Did Luka act like a slave driver like usual?"

Miku could see what Luka meant when she said that Kaito was always saying what he was thinking. That was admirable in one way, but really bad in another. "The recording team was worse. I admire Luka's stamina to put up with all that."

"Working for Krypton is all about stamina. I assume Luka already told you I'm a failure as a singer." His tone was free of sarcasm or self-pity, just plain truth.

"I didn't say that. I said you got bad publicity because the agency rushed your first single." Luka seized the conversation and pointed her spoon at Kaito like a magical weapon. "I would never say you're a failure, and you know that." Luka seemed really angry for some reason.

"My bad, Luka. I know you aren't one to badmouth hard-working people." Kaito smiled and scratched the back of his head.

Miku felt oddly charmed by this guy. Luka's personality and his seemed to work out fine. Miku asked herself if Luka ever thought about going out with him, but then, according to Luka, he seemed to have his eyes set on someone else.

Miku turned around to the shop in reaction to her thoughts, and then immediately jumped up, pointing at someone in front of that shop. "Ah!" Leaving her ice was it was, half-eaten, Miku left running and was across the street in a few seconds, grabbing the person suddenly by the wrist.

Luka was confused and perplexed by this sudden turn of events. It seemed so totally out of character for Miku to attack strangers on the street. "Don't put the ice away, I'll check what's wrong." Luka left Kaito in charge of her favorite peach-flavored ice cream and made her way across the street.

Miku seemed to be arguing with a tall, white-haired woman with really beautiful red eyes. They seemed pretty close. Luka couldn't help but eye the mysterious woman a bit before she spoke up. "What's wrong, Miku? Who is this?" Luka appeared next to Miku, who was still holding the woman by her wrist, talking vividly to her.

"One of my cousins, Haku Yowane. The one that _isn't_ a terrible tease." Miku sighed and finally let go of Haku, who seemed quite depressed that her plan to secretly go out and buy some booze had failed. She had even gone to a shop a good distance away from her home and _still_ ran into Miku. Fortuna really hated her.

"I'm Luka. I was just eating lunch over there with Miku. Do you want to join us?" Luka sometimes said some outrageous things. Miku really didn't really want to tell her that Haku was a NEET and a drunkard. But the most important thing…

"Wait, eating ice cream is supposed to be lunch?! There are so many things wrong with that, I don't even know where to begin." Miku sighed and turned around to Luka. "But anyway, I'm sorry, but I need to get her back." Without further notice, Miku grabbed Haku by her sleeve and pulled her along.

"Just so you know, I'm angry," Miku whispered to the taller woman and instantly regretted it. Haku already had tears in her eyes, knowing well that Miku had canceled whatever she had been doing to prevent leaking out that she was just a drunkard NEET.

"I'm sorry, Miku…" Haku whispered back, lowering her head and staring at the ground. Miku let go of her sleeve and took her hand in exchange, pulling her less strongly than before. Even though Haku was older than Miku was, taller, and probably stronger, she just didn't put up any resistance. She knew drinking was bad, but didn't have enough willpower to resist.

Luka didn't follow them. She was a bit disappointed that Miku had just taken off like that without an explanation. It didn't fit her character. Luka was sharp when it came to such things. Miku didn't leave of her own will—she felt she had to take her cousin home.

Luka stood for a few more seconds in the middle of the street, looking after Miku. With a sigh, she pulled out her cell phone. Thank God she had saved Miku's number after Erico had found it out. Calling her now would only make things awkward, so she typed a short text message.

_Let's go somewhere next time._

~~~End of Chapter I~~~


	2. Green Eyes and Blue Eyes

**Author's Note**: To avoid confusion, I am not rushing the pace. This story is more about the hardships of real life than the process of getting together. There are plenty of stories which deal exclusively with getting together. This is a tad different.

**Hear My Song!**

**Chapter II**

_Green Eyes and Blue Eyes_

"That's everything. Good work, everyone!" the head of staff shouted, and everyone sighed with relief. It had been a busy day.

Luka was sitting on a large amp, resting. They were producing a promo video for her new album. Her whole body was sore. Why had the executives decided on a dance clip for this video? Such a hassle…

Checking her cell, Luka found that she had no new messages. Was Miku busy? She had only seen her twice since that afternoon—once to finish up the final procedures for the recording and mixing and once by coincidence when Luka was out shopping.

It was almost seven in the evening. Luka speed-dialed Miku's number and waited patiently for the beeping sound to end. A few seconds later, the songstress heard the voice of the green-haired student. "Hi, Miku. It's me, Luka. Are you free right now? I finished work and want to go and get dinner. I'll pay."

Luka was certainly not beating around the bush. It had been almost a week since she had seen Miku last and since then, she had been virtually buried in work. She had sent Miku messages a few times, but only got sporadic answers.

"Right now? I'm free, yes. My cousins are gone for a few days, so I am a bit bored." Miku was lying on her bed, being lazy and reading a novel. She still had homework to do, but that wasn't due until the next week. And there was the weekend between now and then.

"I'm in the mood to party today, so wear something fancy. I'll pick you up in an hour." Luka hung up on Miku before she could reply and stood up. As she clenched her cell in her hand, Luka let out a loud "_Yes!_" before she left the confused-looking staff behind as she left for her dressing room.

Luka grabbed the keys for her car and left before Erico could show up and make her do more work. She was done for today and that was final. Turning her cellphone off, she quickly scribbled a note and left through the back door. The note only contained four words. _No more work today._

Luka felt that this whole thing was a bit backwards. She, the star, was all excited and hyped up about going to dinner with an almost-normal high school student, while said student didn't really seem to care that a star was asking her out.

"Normal is for bores." Luka smiled and stepped on the accelerator. She couldn't wait to see what Miku would wear.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

"Irresponsibility, thy name is Megurine." Miku sighed and closed her cell. In the mood to party? Wouldn't one usually say "celebrate"? But well, "usually" was probably not in Luka's dictionary. The woman was sometimes hard to deal with.

Looking at the mirror over her desk, Miku looked at her hair. If Luka was serious about going out for dinner, she had to shower first. And what should she wear? She was a high school student, she didn't own anything that—as Luka had said—looked "fancy."

Miku finally found something that could fit her demands after getting up and looking through her drawers. It was a red dress that covered no more of her legs than a short skirt. Her shoulders were bare as well. It would be a bit cold to go out in it, so Miku picked out some black leggings, a matching pair of red shoes she rarely wore, and a white woolly scarf. Replacing her usual hair ties with ones that had red roses as decorations, Miku thought that this was the best she could do.

She looked at the clock—almost a quarter of an hour had passed already. Leaving everything where it was, Miku hurried in the bathroom, undressed in a hurry, and stepped into the shower. The hot water felt good, but she could barely enjoy it since she was short for time.

It hit her like a hammer. She hadn't even said "yes" to actually dressing up or anything like that. Luka really had this ability to take control of other people's lives without them realizing it.

Staring a bit at the wet wall, Miku sighed. The irresponsibility of that woman was beyond words. Miku was actually amazed someone could be like that and still function in society. A little exasperated, Miku gave up. There was no use complaining about it.

To be honest, Miku was a bit excited about actually going to dinner with Luka. She was quite well known after all, so if someone saw Miku with her, they would…what _would_ they think? She was too young to be Luka's agent or anything like that. Wouldn't the whole thing look like…a date?

Miku blushed slightly at the thought, but then chuckled. "That's the one thing they _won't_ think." With a smile on her face, Miku started washing her hair.

Twenty minutes later, a damp Miku stepped out of the shower and had grabbed a towel when the doorbell rang.

Quickly wrapping the towel around herself, Miku shouted, "I'm coming!" and walked to the door. Looking through the peephole, she gasped for air for a second. Luka was already here—almost half an hour early!

"Miku? Aren't you going to open the door?" Luka felt stupid talking through the door, but there was no helping it. She had finished showering and getting dressed in record time and then risked a ticket for speeding. It didn't actually matter to her that she was really early.

"Give me a moment!" Miku shouted. She was suddenly very nervous and almost stumbled over her own feet when she turned around to get to her room. Out of desperation, Miku grabbed a blanket, put that over herself, and got back to the door.

Opening it, Miku gasped again, this time silently inside her mind. Luka looked absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing a long strapless black dress that reached to her knees and minimal make-up. Miku didn't know what she had done with her hair, but it was falling straight over her back with only two strands in front that put emphasis on her free shoulders.

"I did say 'fancy', but that's a bit _too_ fancy, Miku." Luka pointed at the seemingly stunned girl. The blanket had slipped a bit and it was now obvious that she was only in a towel beneath it. Without waiting for an invitation to come in, Luka stepped past Miku and looked into the living room.

"I just got out of the shower. You're way too early!" Miku complained. She turned and quickly vanished into the bathroom. Somehow, she felt she could trust Luka not to do anything weird while she was drying her hair.

"Want me to help you?" Luka loved teasing the girl since she took these offers so seriously.

"No, thank you!" Miku shouted and slammed the door, afraid the pervert woman would barge in. Using the dryer was bad for her hair, but she didn't want to risk Luka snooping around in her apartment. She could trust her, yes, but not further than maybe five minutes. The woman really had no manners and no consideration for others!

Luka looked around. There weren't many rooms. Her apartment was a lot bigger than this one. From what she could see, there was a living room, a kitchen, two rooms, and a bathroom. Hadn't Miku said she had two cousins?

A good ten minutes later, Miku came out of the bathroom, still in a towel but with completely dry hair now, and found Luka missing from the living room. Already guessing where she was, Miku entered her room just to find Luka sitting on her bed. She was smiling.

"Your room has a nice feel to it. Much better than mine," Luka said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to be there.

"Out." Miku grabbed Luka's hand and shoved her out of the room, closing the door behind her. With the door safely locked, Miku sighed. Just what had she gotten herself into? Was that really the same Luka Megurine that was idolized by so many girls her age? If they only knew…

"Don't worry, I won't peek. No need to lock the door." Luka chuckled and waited patiently in the hall. She had already seen the dress Miku had out to wear, but she was still excited to actually see her put it on.

Luka wasn't lying to herself. She was clearly interested in Miku, but that itself wasn't a problem. It was only a problem if she chose to pursue her—to ask her out, to date her. If Luka did that, Erico would make her a head shorter. For now, going to dinner with Miku in a nice restaurant was all she wanted.

A few minutes later, Miku finally stepped out, looking a tad annoyed. She'd decided to leave her handbag in her room. Luka had said she would pay, and though Miku didn't put it past her to forget her money, she just decided to trust her for now.

"Sometimes I ask myself how you manage to act so polite and ladylike on TV," Miku grumbled, looking at Luka. She sighed. "You haven't even told me where we're going."

"The Chèron. You know, that new restaurant near Ebisu in Shibuya?" Luka pointed it out as if it were a run-of-the-mill restaurant for normal people when it was actually one of the latest popular places to go to. Luka knew how popular it was and picked it on purpose, even though it was expensive.

"The Chèron? But that place is so popular, you'd need to reserve a table weeks in advance." Everyone in her entire class, Miku included, dreamed of getting asked out to that place. Her happiness was a bit diminished, as it was Luka who was asking her out, but still, it was one of her dreams come true.

"Leave that to me." Luka smiled and grabbed Miku's hand. "You look wonderful. I have to look out that you aren't going to steal my spotlight as most beautiful lady of the evening. Let's go." Luka pulled the blushing Miku out of the apartment before the girl could notice much too late that she had forgotten something important.

Slam. The apartment door was closed and Miku sighed. "I left my keys inside." Now she would have to call her landlord to open the door for her. And it would probably be the middle of the night by then. The evening was really starting out badly.

"I'll take care of that too, don't worry." Luka continued to pull Miku along until they were standing in front of an almost-new red sports car. Miku didn't know much about cars, so "sports car" was enough of a description for her. That it was a sports car was easily distinguished by the fact that it had no rear seats.

"I really really like FDs, so I bought this guy the other day." Luka seemed really proud. It had cost quite a sum, but then again, continuously making the top of the music charts paid off. And though it wasn't tuned and not as new as 4WD cars, it was fast.

Opening the door to the passenger's side, Luka waited for Miku to sit down in the car.

All this was slowly becoming a bit much for Miku. The car was really new. Everything seemed to be shining, and even though the seat didn't look like much, it was pretty comfortable.

Luka sat down and started the engine. "Sadly, I can't wear high heels when driving my own car. But I figured that's okay, since I'm already a bit taller than you," Luka said, and almost shocked Miku to death when she pulled the car around and stepped on the accelerator. With a lot more speed than allowed, they raced in direction of Shibuya.

"Have you ever dated anyone, Miku?" Luka had been quiet for a while now, and so had Miku. Miku had been too busy making sure she wouldn't be killed by Luka's dangerous driving style. Her stomach was feeling a bit funny. And now questions! With Luka, every minute was a surprise.

Luka would never give up trying to get it out of her. Miku might as well spit it out. It wasn't like it was some well-protected secret or anything. And why did she care, anyway? Miku sighed. Why did Luka have to bring this up now? Of _course_ Miku wanted a normal high school life like anyone else.

"Not yet. Thank you for reminding me," she said.

"Same as me, then." Luka grinned, much to Miku's surprise.

"You've never dated? But you're so popular. Guys would stand in line to go out for dinner…with you…" Miku suddenly realized how special it was to go out with someone famous. When she thought of Luka as a meddling and somewhat evil woman, it was nothing special, but as soon as she remembered that Luka was a star, this date seemed suddenly a lot different.

"I just haven't met the right person." Luka pulled the car around and parked. She then stepped out and even opened Miku's door for her so she could help her out. They really looked like two ladies going to a high-class party.

In front of them was a huge tower. It was half-hotel and half-shopping mall, with a top level that housed what was currently one of the most popular restaurants for young people in the city. The lobby was especially busy this time at night. Miku had never been inside the tower, even though she knew it well from the outside. She followed half a step behind Luka, staring at everything. Almost everyone in here was dressed really well, so they didn't stand out at all.

"Where to, ladies?" There was even an attendant in the lift, asking them where they wanted to go. Luka answered, but Miku didn't hear what she said. The lift started to move upwards and Luka stepped back, standing right next to her escort.

"Give me your hand," Luka said in a quiet voice.

Miku first didn't think and had already taken Luka's hand when she realized what this would look like when they got out of the lift. She gave Luka an embarrassed look, but the elegant woman only shook her head, and the lift doors opened before Miku could make a comment. Luka stepped forward and had to pull Miku for a second before she followed.

"Luka!" Out of nowhere, a really well-dressed gentleman showed up and almost knelt before Luka, kissing her free hand. "I got your call earlier. A table by the windows, was it? Follow me."

Quite a few people—everyone nearby, in fact—watched them and started to talk. Miku couldn't understand them since she was still holding hands with Luka, and she was so embarrassed that her face felt as if it were on fire. The man directed them to a table in the back corner. To the left and behind it were windows. If the tower wasn't this high, people could have looked in from the streets.

"Thank you, Marco." Luka was showing a bright smile, but the man single-handedly waved it off. He seemed to be quite fond of Luka, or at least knew her well from the way they talked to each other.

"Nothing to thank me for. This young lady is the escort you mentioned?" The man stepped closer. He was really good-looking. He had very refined features, and although he was middle-aged, he didn't have any gray hair and was wearing an old but very cultivated pair of glasses. He bowed down and even called Miku "mademoiselle." "She is as beautiful as you described. I'll have one of my men come to you in a few." He then bowed and left to speak to some of the other guests.

"Miku, you can stop blushing now," Luka whispered over the table after they both sat down. Luka knew that Marco would leave her a bit of time per her request before sending anyone over. Miku couldn't know that she knew the head waiter here. He was one of her biggest fans.

"I can't help it. People usually don't call me beautiful," Miku said defensively. She turned and looked out the window. The view was breath-taking—the lights of Shibuya at night. But despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but look back at Luka.

It seemed so unreal. Like a shoujo manga story. It was just that her Prince Charming was actually a princess. Miku made a slightly disappointed face. But what exactly what she so disappointed about? Maybe it was time to stop trying so hard to make this seem less fun than it could be.

"You don't like it here, Miku? You really don't look like you're having fun." Luka was a bit worried that she had gone overboard with all of this. Honestly, it had all escalated a bit—it had gone from planning a dinner with Miku to somehow becoming a date at this upscale place. Luka sometimes lacked the ability to stop short and think about what she was doing.

"No, it's okay. I'm just…trying to take it all in." Miku took a deep breath. Should she just say it? Knowing Luka, it couldn't really end with her running away. "This is a date, right?" Miku felt like something clicked inside her head when she said "date." Going on a date with another girl had…certain implications.

"If you want it to be." Luka dodged the question, still feeling like she maybe had rushed things a bit. A lot of people reacted very badly when someone of the same sex suddenly flirted with them. She just hoped she could still save the situation.

"That wasn't my question. You want it to be a date. Am I right, Luka?" Miku leaned forward and her serious expression was telling Luka that she better answer truthfully, even if it meant saying something Miku didn't want to hear. Lying to her now would probably cause things to take a turn for the worse.

"Now that we're here and I see you like this, I do," Luka said, and felt a bit nervous. It was difficult to handle other people. "But if you don't like it, then—" Luka started when Miku put up a finger.

"No, it's fine." She was silent for a bit, then went back to looking out the window. Luka was quiet as well, so Miku wasn't sure what she should do now. Yes, it _was_ fine. Miku had always had the suspicion that she looked at girls a bit differently than others did.

But why did it have to be Luka to make her accept that? True, she was really good-looking, famous, wealthy, and worked in the same industry Miku wanted to be in. But then again, she had a really bad personality. Inconsiderate, not a shred of politeness, pitch-black soul…

A waiter eventually approached. The girls had not spoken for several minutes, and Miku was still deep in thought about what to do now. Should she see if Luka was interested in her? Wouldn't that imply that Miku was interested in _her_? Was she? Miku didn't know anymore. Her heart was racing, thinking about all this, in this getup, in this place.

The waiter talked to Luka, who seemed a bit down now, and then bowed and left. The gentleman from earlier returned immediately with Marco. He talked to Luka, looking suspiciously at Miku a few times. Luka obviously was trying to talk him into something he wasn't too happy about doing, but he gave in after a while.

Miku was still not talking, but Luka's conversation with the waiter and Marco had not escaped her attention. Still, that was hardly the issue right now.

"Miku, listen. If I pushed you too far, I apologize." Luka averted her eyes toward the glass window and sighed quietly. She wasn't faking it. Miku was the first person she had liked this way for quite a while and she didn't want to ruin everything…

"Do you like girls, Luka?" Miku figured that thinking about it forever wouldn't actually solve anything. At least, she had to know if Luka was interested in her or not. The question brought back the red in her face for a bit, but she slowly grew tired of blushing.

"It depends on the person. I don't generally like girls more than guys," Luka answered truthfully. Now that someone had asked her directly, it was true that Luka had never really been interested in the men around her. And there had only been one girl she had liked in the past, and that was years ago.

"How about me?" Miku stopped looking out the window and laid both arms on the table, looking directly at Luka. She was still embarrassed when asking these things, but she didn't like beating around the bush anymore; it would only lead to misunderstandings and problems. Maybe it was because she had to deal with Neru every day, but she had gotten tired of being indirect a long time ago. "Do you like me?"

"I don't know. I like to be around you, but I can't really say why." Luka felt like their roles had suddenly reversed—Miku was leading her on and Luka was answering. Maybe it would be a good thing to just accept things as they were for now.

Miku let out a sigh of relief and started smiling after a moment of awkward silence. "At least you're honest. So…I'll be honest as well. You're an intriguing and, a lot of the time, an annoying person to be around. I think I still want to be around you, despite that. I don't know if I like girls, but it doesn't hurt to try."

Miku knew that from a bystander's perspective, it must've looked like a confession from both sides. But it truly wasn't. They had only just confirmed that they'd like to do things together and that they both didn't exclude girls from their list of potential partners. Miku wasn't quite as sure as Luka in that aspect, but she at least wanted to give it a chance. It was stupid to always expect the worst.

The waiter returned with a bottle of wine. Luka smiled at Miku, who smiled back. Even though they were hardly on a real date, it was a little bit exciting.

Luka and Miku were handed the cards to order. Luka quickly decided, but Miku went a little bit pale on the prices. She hadn't thought it would be this expensive. No wonder the girls in her class only dreamed of going here. But Luka had invited her after all, so she chose to order the same thing as Luka. The waiter excused himself and left the girls alone.

Luka took her glass of wine and smelled it, just to chuckle after a few seconds. "To be honest, I have no idea how good wine is supposed to taste. I don't really like it, either. But it's almost obligatory for this place, so I bear with it."

Miku had never really tasted wine before. She took a sip—it was actually pretty good. Miku didn't know the slightest thing about wine, but it wasn't bad by any means, so she took another sip. She really enjoyed the taste of it.

"Let's go somewhere else after eating, Miku." Luka loved the nightlife, especially with a cute girl like Miku right next to her. They were dressed a bit too classily for any other activities though.

Miku just nodded. Maybe tonight would be fun. She rarely rarely went out because of her financial situation, and even when she did it was only with girls her age. There were probably a lot of places she could go with Luka escorting her.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

"Are you feeling okay? You look terrible, Miku."

Miku was feeling sick. Not used to alcohol, and not knowing how much she could drink, Miku had gone overboard with the wine. At least she still had control over her legs by the time they'd left. But once they were outside in the fresh air and in Luka's car, it was all over. Luka had had to pull over a few seconds after they'd left.

"I'm _not_ okay, thank you for your consideration," Miku snapped back. She was sitting in the car with the door open. She felt like throwing up any second now. Knowing Luka, she would be angry if she threw up in her new car.

"I'll drive you home. You can't go anywhere like that." Luka felt a bit responsible for letting a minor drink so much wine. It had been a nice but a bit short evening. At least she now knew that Miku was a very poor drinker.

Miku felt that she would feel a lot worse any moment now, but at least then it would be over with. She stood up and immediately swayed like she was about to fall over. Luka quickly grabbed her. "Bushes. Now," Miku gasped, and Luka reacted fast.

A few disgusting moments later, Luka passed a bottle of water to Miku. "Drink that."

Luka knew that it would be best to drive Miku home soon. Luka was too familiar with how bad one felt after drinking too much, so she reduced her talking to a minimum and signaled Miku to get in the car.

Miku's head was still buzzing and she was thankful for the silence. She couldn't tell how long they took, but Luka was driving considerably slower than before. She was probably trying to be considerate. So she did have a nice side to her after all. Miku felt like smiling at that revelation, but that small motion was a little too difficult to do at that moment.

They got out of the car and Luka helped Miku out, letting the smaller girl lean on her. Then, right in front of her door, it hit them.

"My keys…are inside," Miku said, and let her head sink. "It's okay, I'll call my landlord. My cell is inside, can I have yours?" Miku reached out with her hand, waiting for Luka to hand over her cell.

"I…don't have my cell with me. I left it at home. I didn't want to be called when I was out with you." Luka suddenly felt like having a drink herself. This evening was getting worse by the minute. "I'll drive you to my place. I can't leave you here in the cold." Luka already had goosebumps from the chilly night air.

Luka sometimes cursed her own luck. Things had been fine after their…talk. Until it was time to leave. Miku noticed she had drunk a bit too much and from there, things had gone downhill.

Miku was quiet the whole time Luka drove to her apartment. "Listen, I'm sorry," Luka said. She thought she had never apologized so much in one day.

After getting no response, Luka looked to her side. Miku was lying there in the seat, closed eyes, breathing normally. When had she fallen asleep? Luka drove a bit slower than before, trying not to wake her up. More than ten minutes later, they arrived in the parking lot near Luka's apartment.

Luka was torn between waking Miku up and just carrying her up to her apartment. She looked rather peaceful, and not to say cute, sleeping right now, so Luka didn't want to wake her up. It wasn't that far to her apartment and it was dark now, so not many people would see them.

Luka got out of the car, then opened Miku's door and slowly pulled her out, carrying her like a princess. When she closed the door Luka had a few problems locking the car, but she eventually managed. If not for the events of half an hour ago, she would've been tempted to steal a kiss from the sleeping Miku.

"Probably better I don't. She'd probably get angry."

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

Miku's head was a mess. The last thing she remembered was getting back in Luka's car. Where was she?

She opened her eyes. When they had adjusted to the light, Miku found herself in a bed she didn't recognize. She moved slightly, and she felt a tug from behind. Then she looked over her shoulder—Miku wasn't very surprised to see Luka's face. The woman was lying behind her, both her arms tightly wrapped around Miku's waist. The pink-haired woman was fast asleep.

Miku knew it was unlikely, but to be sure, she took a peek under the blanket. Luka must have stripped her. She was only wearing underwear, but at least she was wearing something at all. Right in front of her, next to the bed, was a small desk, on top of which were her hair ties.

The clock said eleven in the morning. It had been ages since she had slept in that much. Well, it couldn't be helped. Eleven…in the morning?! She was over three hours late for school! Even if she woke Luka up now and got her to drive and all…could she still make it in time for her afternoon classes? But they would ask her where she was. She had never been this late. Never! And she couldn't just answer that she was out with Luka Megurine for dinner and had ended up getting drunk and crashing at her place. They would declare her a liar and a dishonest person.

The clock was ticking. Given that she couldn't just jump up and go to school in her dress, she would have to go home first, and probably need to take a shower as well…so she wouldn't make it for the first class of the afternoon. With a huge sigh, Miku accepted the reality that it was probably better to just skip the whole day and pretend that she hadn't been feeling well.

Miku didn't want to think about it anymore. "Luka? Luka. Wake up!" Miku tried to speak quietly, mostly because her head was still buzzing from the night before. "Luuuka…" Miku tried to turn around, which was difficult with Luka hugging her. Finally managing it, Luka suddenly pulled closer. Was she really asleep?

Miku's face was only a few inches away from Luka's. Miku could feel her breath on her skin. Being this close would excite anyone, but what they talked about the evening before really had really gotten to her. They were moving forward so fast—Miku needed to stand still for a bit. Was she really okay with this? It certainly felt that way, but…

Miku also thought about it on Luka's behalf. How would the fans take it that Luka was dating? Seeing a high school student…and a _girl_ on top of it? Well, some guys were into such things, but wasn't that really bad for her image? Was that really Miku's business? Should she distance herself from her for Luka's own good?

But all of that was washed away when Luka opened her eyes. That sleepy face, the eyes half open, slightly confused. That pure look, that one moment was all that was needed to make Miku's heart beat faster.

Both looked into each other's eyes, quietly, silently, and Miku gave up. No amount of thinking could change what she felt. She was intrigued by this woman, and even if it ended in disaster, she wanted to at least try to see what it would be like to be with her.

Luka was the same. She knew the risks of going out with anyone. And with Miku, that risk was increased tenfold, and it wasn't just because she was a girl. She was also a high school student. That they had sung a duet together would only further the fire if this came out.

Miku closed her eyes and let herself be pulled closer, into a tight embrace. No kiss, nothing more than an intimate hug. This was the limit of their relationship right now. Both knew that they had to keep this a secret. No words were needed to know that much. For Luka, it was a matter that could ruin her career. And for Miku, one that could ruin her future career and her life.

"Your hair smells," Luka said, and ruined the mood in an instant.

Miku pulled away and gave her a harsh glare.

"But I guess that's normal after what happened yesterday." Luka didn't want to remember that particular moment. "The shower is down the hall. Don't worry, I won't peek. Probably."

Miku thought she must've been crazy to think this woman wasn't evil to the core. First thing in the morning and she was already teasing her. Miku could never tell when she was serious about these things, so she was always on guard.

"If you peek, I'll never talk to you again." Miku warned the pink-haired woman with an "I really mean it" glare and looked at her clothes. She could hardly wear those again after showering.

"I'll bring you some of my clothes," Luka said, stretching in the large bed and rolling over to the other side. "If you trust me that little, check the left drawer. Just pick something that fits." Luka was sounding annoyed now.

Miku took the risk and left, checking nearly every other room between the bedroom and the bathroom, which were on opposing ends of the hall. Luka had a big kitchen and even a small audio room to practice in. Miku thought of her own cramped apartment and felt lost somehow. But Luka's apartment was a bit…cold. That is, it didn't have any warmth in it. It was pretty bland compared to Miku's place. Probably because the songstress was always working.

The bathroom was a lot bigger than the one in her apartment. Especially the bathtub. Miku would've killed to bathe here, but Luka would likely to want to shower as well. Since she already decided to skip school that day, and the weekend was coming up, she might as well do something with Luka.

"Erico is going to kill me if I tell him about this," Luka sighed out loud and stretched again, slowly getting up. She looked for her cell and turned it on. Twenty-seven unread mails, all from Erico. Luka snapped it off right away. She wasn't in the mood to read those, not now.

Miku was probably already in the shower. Luka looked for her scheduler, a little black book where she kept important dates, and flipped through it. The entire morning was just full of studio stuff, and then there was an interview at four o'clock in the afternoon. Luka tried to remember what that was about since the note only said "interview."

"Must be that…" Luka sighed, knowing that she couldn't skip that one.

She looking through her drawers and picked out a few clothes. When she finally decided on a set, she carried it over to the bathroom door. "Miku! I've got you some clothes." She could peek easily, and it was tempting, but she knew better than to unnecessarily provoke the girl in there. Nothing good would come of it. Too bad she couldn't spy through the keyhole.

The water stopped and there was silence for a few seconds. Then the door finally opened a little gap and a cautious pair of eyes showed through. "I'm amazed you held your word." Grabbing the clothes, Miku closed the door, but not without whispering, "Thank you."

A smile on her face, Luka knew that peeking was quite unnecessary. After all, she had the liberty of picking out Miku's outfit. Now that she thought about it, the shirt resembled her own stage outfit a bit. The cut-off sleeves and the ornaments were in the same style, but due to how it was cut, Luka had never worn it before. It was simply too tight around the chest.

Luka fell back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. What to do now? Drive Miku home? Or try to talk her into going out for a bit? Maybe she shouldn't anger Erico too much and show up in the studio, but it would be a bit cold to just tell Miku she was going to work after…what had happened. What actually _had_ happened? They hadn't really agreed on anything. Well, in her mind, they had agreed on giving romantic feelings a try.

"This is such a mess…" Luka sighed and fell back asleep, stretched out on the bed.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

How in the world had she talked her into this? And then how had she dragged her here? It was a mystery of the modern world. Miku was trying very hard not to be nervous, but she was a little pale. She had already been nervous when she was about to meet Luka, and now this. The woman next to her was smiling happily to the man in the chair across from them.

"Then, in closing—how do you feel about working with Miss Hatsune here?"

An interview. About her new album, the first one to be produced. All her songs until now had been singles. Luka had been happily answering questions for the past twenty minutes and Miku had been trying hard not to stutter when she got asked a question. How in the world had she ended up doing an interview with Luka? What was wrong with this woman, dragging her into it? She was evil after all! Miku's stomach was feeling upside down.

"Ah, of course…well, at first our coordination was a bit sloppy, but Miku is a really talented girl, so we didn't have many problems after that. Her voice fit the chosen song very well. I dare say, all of you can be excited to hear our combined efforts!"

Was that really Luka? No. That was the TV and public Luka, not the real one. It was all a mask she wore. A fascinating mask. The polar opposite of her actual personality. Miku had been trying to smile the whole time, but after Luka had kicked her foot without drawing attention, Miku stopped. It must've looked really awkward.

"You two must be really close since you call Miss Hatsune by her first name! Are you?"

Luka had been afraid of this question. She could play it safe or take a risk and maybe boost her sales a bit. She turned around and looked at Miku.

The green-haired girl's nervousness suddenly rose to tenfold the previous amount. Luka leaned in and laid one hand on Miku's left cheek.

"Are we, you ask? Well, look at her! How could someone resist someone this cute? And such a nice voice, too." Luka then quickly went back to her previous position. She could hear some girls in the audience scream "Kyaaah!" which was exactly her calculated reaction.

"Seems you two are a lot closer than we all thought!"

The reporter was getting on her nerves. He was way too interested in personal facts instead of the music. But media was media, so Luka endured. "I don't know what you're implying. I surely hope nothing special." She smiled, but it was a certain type of smile, one that signaled the interviewer to stop asking question about that particular topic.

The man was intimidated and quickly changed the subject and subsequently ended the interview. The lights went off, and Luka went to shake hands and sign some autographs for her fans, who were now screaming and yelling like a wild mob.

Miku had already entered the small dressing room that Luka had used before the interview when Luka got back. She looked really exhausted.

"You did great for your first time out there, but your smile was creepy. It gave me the chills," Luka commented, stretching in front of the mirror. While they had come to the interview in regular clothes, she still had put on some makeup on herself and Miku.

"I was so nervous, I was about to faint out there!" It was unusual for Miku to get this loud, but she really was annoyed. "Why the hell did you make me do this? And what was with that comment at the end? We don't have that sort of relationship!" Miku was quite angry with the songstress.

"We don't?" Luka thought of the morning's events. She then stepped closer to Miku, laying both arms around her shoulders. She was a bit taller than Miku, and now she was quietly looking down at her. "I thought we did." To emphasize her words, Luka leaned forward, trying to kiss Miku.

A stagehand who was walking by heard a loud sound from inside the dressing room and checked by opening the door. "Everythin' okay in here?"

He almost got run over by a very angry and grim-looking Miku. "Yes. Now everything is okay." Miku quickly stomped past him. She didn't care how far away she was from her house. She didn't want to spend another second with that invasive woman. A few stagehands who had worked behind the scenes on the interview recognized her and looked a bit confused that she was alone.

The feelings from earlier were completely overridden by Miku's disgust for Luka's complete lack of restraint and consideration. "I must've been brainwashed. Or still drunk."

Luka sat down in the dressing room and sulked. What was _wrong_ with that girl? She might have been a bit hasty, but that was no reason to slap her! Rubbing her red cheek, Luka cursed a bit, but since only the wall could hear her, she quickly gave up.

She left the dressing room and asked a worker where Miku had gone, but he didn't know who she was talking about. It took her nearly ten minutes to find out that Miku had left the building in a hurry. Even angrier than before, Luka grabbed her keys and stomped towards the direction of her car.

Blowing off steam by speeding was a very dangerous idea, so she didn't do it. She just had to make her anger go away somehow. She pulled over at a parking lot, grabbed her cell phone out of her bag, and flipped it on. Not even three seconds later it started ringing. It was Erico.

"_What?!_" Luka was really in a bad mood.

"I've been trying to get you all day. We have a big problem. Come to the agency right now." Erico hung up.

He'd just hung up on her. Luka was furious now. What the hell was _wrong_ with everyone today? Did they all suddenly have a grudge against her or something?

Not even ten minutes later, Luka was at the agency. Even though the cold wind had cooled her down a bit, she still was in a very foul mood. "What is it? What's so important?!" Luka was about to snap.

Erico held up some papers containing graphs and tables. Luka was not quite focused enough to immediately realize what they were about. "What are those?" Pulling one of the papers from his hands, she looked it over.

Then it hit her. Erico turned around and his voice was bitter. "These, Luka, are the graphs of the first reviews for your new album. They're horrendous. We sent it to more than a dozen music magazine editors and they all hated it. The only exception is your duet." Erico was quite obviously at a loss.

Luka looked over the remaining pamphlets and went paler with every page. She could have sworn there was a ringing sound in her head. Grabbing the entire pile of papers, she threw them against the wall. "Fuck!"

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

It was evening by the time Miku got home. Her feet were sore and her anger gone. She was actually feeling a little regretful. After how she had acted that morning, it wasn't that much of a stretch to say that she and Luka had that kind of relationship. She regretted slapping Luka, but Luka didn't pick up her cell phone and Miku didn't have Erico's number.

When Miku was a few steps from her apartment, her cell rang. Unknown number. So it wasn't Luka. Picking up, Miku was curious who would call her at a time like this. "Hatsune. Who's this?"

"Luka's agent, Erico. Speaking of Luka, have you seen her?" Erico seemed a bit out of breath. His voice was trembling, too.

It took less than five minutes for Erico to spill the beans. Miku went pale. The whole album? But not the duet? Biting her lip, Miku thought about how Luka must feel. First the events after the interview, and now this disaster. "And she's been missing since then? Her car is still at the studio? Did you try her cell phone?" Miku immediately realized why Luka hadn't picked up, and why Erico wouldn't be able to reach her either.

"I've already checked all the places she would go. I seriously have no idea where she could have gone, and I'm worried. Right now I'm calling everyone she knows. If she shows up, give me a call under this number. Ciao." He hung up. Miku stood in front of her door, feeling worse than before.

Thank God she had called her landlord from Luka's cellphone before the songstress had dragged her to the interview. She picked up the key that was hidden under the doormat, opened her door, and walked through the hall, already deep in thought about what Erico had said. It wasn't her fault that Luka had gone missing. She would have left like that, even without fighting with Miku.

Miku felt sorry for her, though. It was her first album, and knowing how hard Luka had worked for it…it was really a pity that it was going to be pulled. It would be a bad hit for her career, too. Miku wanted to say a few encouraging words to her, but…after her actions today, it would be a miracle if Luka was ever going to talk to her again.

Miku just left her bag at the door and walked straight to her room. The other two were still out and wouldn't be back for at least another day.

Lying down on her bed, Miku felt a bit lethargic. Was it a bad thing that she wouldn't see Luka again? Was it a good thing? Considering how many weird things that woman had dragged her into, it was probably a good thing. But then again, why was she regretting it so much?

Miku rolled over in bed and pulled the blanket over her. Hadn't her heart jumped a bit when Luka embraced her this morning? Or was she reading too much into it? Hadn't she thought this morning that she now viewed girls differently? That seemed really far off after slapping Luka when she had tried to kiss her.

Just tired from the day—the evening before and the walking—Miku fell asleep. A deep, dreamless sleep.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

It was pitch black outside. The clock said three in the morning. Who the hell was knocking on her door at this hour? Miku, still not undressed from before, walked to the door, still half-asleep. She looked through the peephole, but nobody was there. Then, again came the knocking. It came from below.

She opened the door and something fell in, like a wet sack of potatoes. Miku jumped back, scared, but then examined the sack. It was rare that such things had long pink hair and were very, very drunk. Miku rubbed her forehead and sighed. Somehow, this smelled like a long night.

Why didn't she throw her out? Why didn't she just ignore her? Or at least leave her in the living room. But then the whole room would stink the next morning. Luka's clothes, her hair, everything smelled of alcohol. It was astonishing that she had found this place on foot. Even more astonishing was the fact that she had made it here at all, drunk as she was.

Miku dragged Luka into the bathroom, and after explaining three times to her that she had to take a shower _alone_, her words finally got through. Why was she putting up with this? Did Miku like her or not? Miku yelled at herself inside her her mind. _Make up your mind already!_

Almost half an hour later, Luka knocked on the bathroom door. Miku couldn't figure out what the drunk woman was saying, but she was probably done. Miku opened the door and handed the songstress some of her clothes.

Wasn't she supposed to call Erico? Why hadn't she done so in the first place and had him pick her up? Why had she bothered to have Luka shower and to throw her clothes in the washing machine? Miku ruffled her own hair. Sometimes she didn't understand what the hell she was doing.

Luka was about to pass out. The hot water hadn't helped much except remove the alcohol stench. Miku couldn't figure out what was going on anymore and just proceeded to drag her to her bed. They had slept in the same bed before, and she couldn't leave Luka drunk somewhere else. She was sleepy as hell and wanted to go bed too.

Luka was mumbling to herself. Or actually talking to Miku. Or something. It was just gibberish anyway. Miku shoved her into the small bed despite not feeling good about the fact that she would have to snuggle up with Luka to fit in her own bed. Maybe she should have just left her in the living room after all…

But then Luka started crying. It was completely unexplainable. Out of the blue, suddenly, Luka started sobbing and clinging to Miku. Her words were unintelligible, but Miku was aware of what she was crying about—her new album. This could very well mean the end of Luka's career if the agency decided to drop her to cut their losses.

Roles were suddenly reversed. Miku stood there, patting Luka's head and back, but unable to say anything reassuring. What could she have said? The usually strong and confident woman was drunkenly crying her heart out.

She sat down on her bed and continued to just be there for Luka to cry on. It took a long time until she stopped. Following a short awkward silence, Luka said something that Miku actually understood. "Thank you…"

Was it charm or pity? Miku didn't care either way. She took Luka's hand. "Tomorrow, everything will look a bit better." She knew her words didn't help much, but surprisingly, Luka nodded.

Miku knew this night would come back to haunt her, but she just couldn't leave Luka. Not while knowing how hard she had worked to be where she was.

Luka had quickly fallen asleep. Her hair was still wet, and so was her skin. She was wearing one of Miku's shirts that was a little too tight for her but that was long enough to cover her hips. Miku didn't have anything appropriate, so she had stolen a pair of Haku's underwear.

Really, what should she do? This woman was nothing but trouble. One moment, Miku thought she liked her to the point where she thought she was a lesbian. Not even twelve hours later, she never wanted to see her again. And now she was back to square one!

Falling asleep, Miku dreamed of a huge stage.

_The audience was empty. Nobody was there. It was a giant hall, one of the biggest she had ever seen. She was wearing the same outfit that Luka had given her, and she was holding a microphone. The hall was eerily silent. No music, no sound. Looking at the ground, Miku saw that there were dozens, hundreds of pamphlets covering the stage, so she picked one up and looked at it. It featured her and Luka. _Project Diva_ was written in large characters at the top._

_But all that wasn't important. What was important was that the word "Canceled!" had been stamped over their faces. Miku looked around, but Luka was nowhere to be seen._

_Miku finally noticed that she couldn't move. She was chained to the stage. Chained to the ground. Long steel chains on her legs held her back. Then the door opened. Miku tried to scream out, but there was no sound. It was just someone with a cleaning unit._

_Slowly making his way down, the cleaner picked up one of the pamphlets and seemed rather fascinated by it. But then he moved to throw it away. Miku tried to get free, but the more she struggled, the tighter the chains got. She looked wildly around, finally giving the stage a good look. It was very run down. Had it been like that the whole time?_

_Miku looked behind her. Her and Luka's faces were painted on the wall behind her, accompanied by dozens of graffiti scrawlings. Some were offensive, some were just plain gibberish or prank art. One of them, a very big one in pink and green letters, read "Failure."_

_The cleaner was almost near the stage. Miku still tried to scream, but her voice was simply missing. She threw the microphone in her hand and it landed near the cleaner, who proceeded to look up._

_Now Miku wanted to scream more than ever. The cleaner was Luka. Miku hadn't recognized her. Her hair was put into a tangled ponytail, a dirty brown instead of pink. The janitor clothes concealed her nice figure. But worst of all were her eyes. They were empty and lifeless, as if her soul were missing._

_After looking at Miku for a few seconds, the janitor quickly got back to her job. She picked up the pamphlets and threw them into the trash bin in her mobile unit. Miku tried to get free, but soon the chains were so tight that she couldn't move anymore. She sank to her knees and watched the cleaner finish her work. Not once did Luka look at her again._

_And then she left. Left and was gone. Miku was all alone in the big hall. Alone and forgotten. Miku was about to cry when the door opened again and Luka came back. She was standing there, right at the door, looking at the stage. Miku knew Luka wouldn't leave her._

_Luka turned to the side and opened a small door in the wall. She pushed a few buttons, then lights slowly went off. The last light was the main light of the stage. The hall was covered in darkness now. Luka turned around and looked once again at the stage. Then she looked at Miku. And with a last push, the lights went off, and Miku was truly alone in the darkness._

_Unable to scream out, unable to leave, she was left alone in the darkness._

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

She woke up in cold sweat and with a racing heart. Miku felt sick, like she would throw up any second. She'd never had a nightmare so bad. Miku just hurried to get up and get to the bathroom, feeling she would throw up any second now. She pushed the door open and was surprised at what she saw. Luka was showering again, and Miku had a great view of her body.

Starting to cough, Miku got on her knees. She didn't throw up—instead she went into a coughing seizure.

Luka grabbed a long towel and quickly left the shower before kneeling down next to Miku. "What's wrong, Miku?" Luka knew that this wasn't caused by Miku seeing her naked. There must be some other reason.

Luka noticed immediately what that reason was. Miku was as pale as a ghost, covered in cold sweat, and her eyes were red from crying. Luka didn't know what to do. Hug her, console her? But what if Miku reacted the same way she had the day before? After being taken in, Luka didn't want to cause Miku any more trouble. Against her better judgment, Luka pulled Miku towards her, hugging her and waiting until the girl calmed down.

"I…had a horrible nightmare. I've never had one so bad. It was…about you and me." Miku just had to tell someone about it. The images had been so real, so vivid. It was hard to believe it was just a dream. Miku proceeded to tell Luka about the entire nightmare, and even Luka was a bit put off by how it went.

"Listen, Miku…about yesterday…" Luka knew that she should probably apologize for assuming things, but it was hard to apologize to the girl who slapped her. Especially since Luka was so proud. But despite what she felt like yesterday, she didn't want Miku to go her separate way after their fight.

"You don't need to apologize." They had moved to the living room. Luka was still covered in a towel, and Miku only in a long shirt she used to sleep. "Maybe you weren't that wrong. I mean…" Miku didn't know how to explain her feelings. She could only think of directly telling Luka what she thought.

"If I weren't at least a little interested, would I really be acting the way I am? I've never been this confused in my entire life." Miku avoided looking straight at Luka. It was so embarrassing to say things like this. Miku wished she could virtually shrink to escape this feeling.

Luka didn't know how to answer. She usually hid her feelings from others, but would that really help in this case? Shouldn't she just say what she really thought? Miku was being so terribly honest…could Luka actually go and lie to her now? Taking a deep breath, Luka reached out and grabbed Miku's hand.

"Will you go out with me?" Luka felt like kissing a wall. That really was a stupid way to tell her. Miku's confusion in her face made obvious that she was getting the wrong idea. Luka didn't mean it like that. But how could she explain it? Making another bold move, Luka pressed forward and pushed Miku down on the ground.

"Like this…"

What the _hell_ was she doing? Why did she always act like an idiot in these situations? She'd always been that way. She was always taking rash actions.

But Miku didn't defend herself. She just let Luka advance until she was kneeling right above her. Miku looked up. Strands of wet pink hair were falling down but not yet touching her face. Her blue eyes were mesmerizing. Miku didn't even want to defend herself. She just wanted to let things happen, to let things take their way from here on. She was tired of thinking, doubting, questioning everything…

Luka leaned down. Her wet hair touched Miku's shoulders, her neck and face. Luka was not in control of her body anymore. It was acting on its own. Quietly staring into the eyes of the girl beneath her, the girl with those beautiful and mysterious green eyes, she felt overcome with greed. Luka wanted her all to herself.

Luka's hand found her way into Miku's. As if purely on instinct, their hands closed, tightly holding each other. Green eyes closed and blue eyes followed. Faces drew closer and were soon able to feel each other's breath on their skin. Their hearts were beating so loud that they should've been able to hear each other. A last small jump ahead, and lips met.

Remaining together for only moments, the gasping of breathless girls filled the room after they separated. Excitement had them in its grasp. Neither had anticipated a kiss to be like that. Miku just didn't have the will to resist, and Luka just didn't have the will to restrain herself.

Touching her own lips, cautiously as if they might break, Miku avoided looking at Luka and turned her head to the side. It had felt so nice, despite how short it was. Luka was still kneeling over her, remaining in that position long after Miku looked away.

Luka was trying to think of a thousand things at once. Scolding herself, congratulating herself, being annoyed and happy…she was a storm of emotions right now. She had expected violent retaliation, but nothing had happened.

She moved away and slowly stood up. She didn't know what to say. Apparently she had done the right thing, though. Miku slowly got up, looking confused but not disgusted. Not angry, not offended. Just confused.

Maybe it was best to just keep at it. Luka sat down behind Miku and laid both her arms around her, pulling her very carefully back. And her intuition really had been right. Miku let herself be hugged from behind.

"You like me this much?" Miku said, and slightly turned her head, looking behind her. She wanted an honest answer. If Luka lied to her now…

"I like you enough to risk a scandal that could cost me my career." Luka didn't shy away from saying what she felt. Nothing good came from that.

"That much, hm…" Miku sighed. Relaxing her position a bit, she leaned backwards, far enough to look up at Luka's face. Neither of them said anything. Just by looking at her, Miku could see that Luka wasn't lying. Luka looked straight into her eyes and didn't waver at all.

With a small but soft smile, Miku freed herself from the embrace and stood up. "I've never dated anyone." Miku felt embarrassment creep over her but she kept at it. She felt attracted to Luka, and despite her faults, she was a nice woman. "So…if you're still okay with that, I'm okay with going out with you." Miku averted her eyes again and eyed the wall as if there was something interesting on it.

Luka didn't hesitate a single second. She had jumped to her feet before Miku could react, forcefully pulling her closer. Miku's eyes, not even inches away from her own, were full of surprise. Luka was kissing her again, tightly holding her now, both arms around her waist.

Miku gave up. There was just no holding back for this woman. Accepting this as a "yes" to her question, Miku responded to the kiss on her own now. She leaned against Luka. She could feel her heart beating faster than ever. Was this what it was like to like someone? What a great feeling.

Miku had completely forgotten about school for now.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

"I think you should call your agent. I was supposed to call him when you showed up, but…" Miku was suddenly a lot more embarrassed to be in Luka's presence. It was ridiculous. They had only kissed, there was no need to act all shy now! But she couldn't help it.

"Not much to talk about. The agency probably scrapped the album already. I'd like to know what's wrong with the songs I recorded…" Luka was offended. Damn critics. What did they know about her hard work? What did they know about music if they could write her off like this? Stupid assholes.

"He did sound urgent last night. Just call him, okay? I'm going to take a shower…" Miku stood up and walked over to the bathroom door. "No peeking." She felt that this would become the most said line in her vocabulary if she was with Luka. That woman wasn't just evil. She was also a pervert.

Luka sighed. It was probably for the best. Not to peek and to call Erico, that is. He was probably quite mad, but that was to be expected. She had thrown quite a tantrum at the agency before she'd left to drink. But she didn't have her cell phone with her, so she went back into Miku's room and she first lay down on the bed.

It still smelled like Miku. Well. It was _her_ bed after all. Luka took a deep sniff of the pillow. She could smell Miku's hair. Things had been rather haphazard between them, but at least Luka had somehow managed to make Miku come around. Miku was such a cute girl. If she were to become popular, someone would snatch her away in no time.

Miku's cell phone. It was right there, on the desk. Luka got up and walked over, picking up the small green phone. She didn't need a speed-dial for Erico's number; she had it memorized. After three very long beeps, he picked up. "Yes? Did Luka show up?" He, at least, sounded calm.

"It's me. I won't say I'm sorry for going off to drink, but I shouldn't have thrown a tantrum." Luka used a preemptive strike to make sure the scolding was going to be short. It was much easier to admit errors if the other party wasn't expecting it.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have. There was more news than just the bad critics. The agency is calling the album." Luka gritted her teeth and let a "tch" slip. Stupid agency. "But there's some good news, too."

"They decided not to saw you down and sell the one song that got a good critique as a single. What happens next depends on the sales for that one." Luka tried to remember what that one song was. Wasn't that…?

"They're selling the _duet_ as single? Can they actually do that? It's just one song." Luka was worried that her fans would complain about this sort of marketing. "Shouldn't they—" She got cut off.

"They want you and the girl to record another song. You've got one week. I was talking to the guy writing the lyrics when you called. Why are you using that girl's cell phone, anyway?"

"I'm at her place. I crashed here last night. Give me a call when you finish the lyrics." Luka hung up before he could question her any more than he already had.

At least some good news. Now she had to tell Miku and hope she played along with this. If they had to sell it as a single, they'd need at least one other song. They could do with two originals and instrumentals.

Luka fell back on the bed, grabbed the pillow, and smelled it some more. It was sort of addicting.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

"You mean I should record one more song with you?" Miku was drying her hair with a towel as she sat on the table in the living room. She was torn between happiness and reluctance. It was really hard work to record a song, and even more so if Luka wasn't able to cover up Miku's mistakes.

"We probably have a day or two until the lyrics are finished. That doesn't mean we have time to be lazy, though. I'm going to train your voice. I won't be able to cover up gaps when you run out of air this time. There is only so much we can do in a week, so you should get as much practical experience as you can." Luka was like a completely different person when she talked about work.

"I haven't even said _yes_ yet." Miku gave Luka a harsh glare. She had to keep Luka in check if she wanted to avoid being dragged all over the place by her sudden decisions. But another song, and a single just with Luka's and her duet…

It was too much for Miku to resist. With a sigh, she lifted her hand. "All right, I'll do it."

Since neither of them knew what the music or lyrics were like, they decided to use "Distance" as a practice piece. Since the only CDs of it were at the agency, they would have to go there. How they would do that was another question. Luka had left her car at the agency and Miku didn't own one.

They ended up taking the train after eating some breakfast. Luka's clothes were still in the dryer, so she was wearing some borrowed clothes from Miku's cousin, Haku. They weren't a bad fit, but they lacked Luka's usual style. She had bound her hair into a ponytail, and without her usual fancy clothes and makeup, nobody seemed to recognize her. Especially since a lot of Luka's fans dyed their hair pink to imitate her.

It took them nearly half an hour to get to the agency. Luka found her handbag in her dressing room with a note alongside. Erico had left an early version of the lyrics with her things. After reading over it twice, Luka handed the pages to Miku. They were a very nice contrast to "Distance."

"But there are some funny coincidences. To sing a song like this right after we've gotten together." Luka was a bit amused by this twist of fate. Based on the reaction of her fans at the interview, they would eat this song up like nothing else.

Miku had just finished reading over it once when Luka pulled her towards the recording room from last time. Luka talked to a staff hand for a while, and Miku used that chance to read over the early lyrics one more time.

Luka seemed oddly enthusiastic. After reading over the lyrics a second time, Miku understood why. The lyrics dealt with two girls in love with each other and the problems that came with it. It was a perfect fit for them.

The song's name was "Magnet."

~~~End of Chapter II~~~


	3. Love and Melody

**Hear My Song!**

**Chapter III**

_Love and Melody_

"I'm so beat, I might turn into a zombie any moment…" Miku nearly dropped dead on her bed. It was such a pain to work part-time, go to school, study, and work with Luka. If only the number of hours of each day would increase as well, not just her work.

Luka really gave her no breaks. And the producer was even worse. All of a sudden, it was not just "Magnet" but _two_ singles. Miku was questioning their decision to let her sing a song alone, but they said it would be just an extra—which didn't help to motivate her at all.

Luka's song was "Just Be Friends," and Miku was supposed to write her own lyrics. Luka said that it was a test for her abilities in the business. But how was she supposed to find the time to come up with lyrics? Thank God Luka helped her out with things, like driving her home, from work, to the studio and back. It helped a lot. Luka also went shopping with her, although in disguise. People would go into an uproar if they saw Luka Megurine casually shopping with a high school student.

Neru and Haku knew by now that Miku was working with Luka. While Haku had been a bit excited, Neru was her usual bitchy self, although she was pretty quiet whenever Luka was around. Maybe she didn't want Luka to get a bad impression of her, but it was Neru they were talking about…

Since Neru and Haku were kind of dependent on Miku making meals (as neither could cook anything beside instant noodles), Miku's staying at Luka's place overnight was out of the question. And the woman was also pretty stubborn about seeing Miku more often than at work, so it led to the current disaster. Luka was, on her free days, staying at Miku's place.

"Miku, where do I put the salad?" Luka yelled from the kitchen. Miku wished that Luka could at least cook. But that was a wishful dream.

"That's for dinner!" Miku yelled back. "We're having steak today. Did you forget?" Miku saw the one positive thing that came with shopping with Luka—she didn't have to pay for her extra groceries, and since Luka liked to eat meat, the Hatsune household was making an extra profit by letting the songstress decide on and pay for the meals.

Luka was still not used to dealing with Haku. She also suspected that Neru secretly doted on Haku and that neither had told Miku. They seemed to be rather closely related, so two cousins sleeping with each other was probably not something she should confront Miku with in the current situation. Not to mention that it was just a hunch. Luka didn't have any evidence.

Miku had expected Neru to make a big scene when she had told Neru that she was seeing someone, and she expected an even bigger scene when that someone turned out to be Luka. It would've been impossible to keep it a secret anyway, with Luka coming over so often. But she took it surprisingly easily, saying that it was her own business who she dated, but she shouldn't come back and cry her heart out after Luka dumped her.

It was lucky that Miku had pretty good grades. Even if, due to the pressure from all the work, she didn't study as much and her grades dropped a little bit, it wouldn't be too bad. Still, Miku was thinking about quitting her part-time job. Luka chipped in with a bit of her money and that helped. Maybe that too was the reason that Neru was so…welcoming in her own way.

Someone knocked on the door. Looking up, Miku saw it was just Neru. Princess was probably going to ask when dinner was ready. Not even bothering to sit up or move, Miku waved with her hand that Neru could come in, and so she did.

"How serious are you about her?" Neru was never someone who beat around the bush or had any decency in asking Miku personal questions.

"I don't know yet. I like her, and it's fun…well, most of the time it is…to be with her and work with her. But why do you suddenly care? You've never been interested in my friends before." Miku gave her cousin a questioning look. It didn't really matter if Neru paid any interest or not, but since she'd gone and asked, Miku would at least reply. Neru was her family, after all.

"Being friends and dating someone is different. And this is _Luka Megurine_ we're talking about. If someone finds out, you're going to be lynched." Neru didn't seem to be bothered by that idea. Or at least she wasn't showing it.

"I was thinking you'd ask me about being a lesbian and stuff, and not _that_." Miku wasn't holding back either. Discussions between her and Neru were really straightforward and blunt. They simply didn't go anywhere if discussions weren't held like that.

"Well…that's your thing. I can sort of understand you there. Guys are all jerks and assholes." Neru rolled her eyes and sighed. Miku had always wondered if Neru had had some jerk as boyfriend in the past, but she always dodged the question when it came to her romantic life.

"I'm old enough to deal with this on my own. But thanks for caring." Miku rolled over and looked straight up at her cousin, who was standing right next to her bed. She had "that" look on her face, that one look Miku rarely ever saw. Neru was smiling.

"Just don't screw up with her. Luka's a beauty. She's bound to have a ton of people going after her." Neru left and stopped at the door frame. "Now, if you would stop lying around and help Luka make dinner…" Back to the princess attitude.

Miku took a deep breath and forced herself up. She was relieved that she had at least already taken care of her homework, so she dragged herself to the kitchen. Luka was already there, making a huge mess while wearing a very cute apron. The woman looked good in anything, but letting her handle food was just suicidal.

"Give me that." Miku took a large knife from Luka and started cutting vegetables. Miku had always thought that such people didn't exist in real life, and only in anime and manga, but Luka truly was one of those people who could blow up pots and stuff.

Luka had already accepted her fate that she wasn't allowed to cook. Thanks to her occupation, Luka often ate in either restaurants or takeout food from shops. Miku stressed the fact that she blew up one pot way too much, though.

"Tomorrow is Saturday. No school, no work. I was thinking of taking a trip to the Kusatsu Hot Springs. I thought a bit of relaxing could be nice for you."

"You want to go to _Gunma?!_" Miku groaned, thinking about how long it would take to go there. It wasn't that far, but…she wasn't really happy with the idea of going there. But it was already out of her control. When Luka said she was thinking about it, then she really meant that she would drag Miku along no matter what and that it was already decided and planned.

Miku guessed that Neru had a sixth sense for this sort of thing, since she suddenly appeared in the kitchen. "You're going to the Kusatsu Hot Springs? Really?" She didn't look very happy for some reason, though. Miku had figured she would try and beg Luka to take her along too, but…

"I'm going there on request to write a review for a magazine, and taking Haku with me. It'll be good for her." Neru pointed towards the woman at the table.

Miku sighed heavily. Not only was Luka going to drag her all the way to Gunma, but Neru would also be there. That was far from relaxing. Maybe it would be easier to just lock herself up and spend a quiet weekend in her apartment. There was that one book she had been wanting to read…

"Which inn are you staying at?" Luka took the hint from Miku and lured Neru out of the kitchen.

"Kouakan Inn. Mostly regulars there. Where are you staying?" Neru hoped Miku would be staying in a different place. She wanted to spend some time with Haku alone.

"Ekinariya Inn." Luka didn't go into any specifics. She was a bit maniacal about hot springs and knew the name of the inn Neru was staying in. The place she had in mind for herself and Miku was triple the price for each night.

"So we're not in the same place. Miku!" Neru started to shout and Miku took a peek outside the kitchen. "Do your homework before you go anywhere. And take the trash out." Neru was as bossy as ever, Miku thought. That woman would never get a boyfriend if she continued to behave like a princess.

"So you're okay with me taking Miku there?" Luka was asking just in case. Miku was still a minor and Neru was her legal guardian.

"I don't care. I'm not gonna be at home anyway. But don't expect _me_ to pay for her room," Neru snapped at Luka and got back to her cellphone, sitting down on the table.

Luka didn't like Neru's attitude too much, but she wasn't the type to pry into others' family matters. At least, not if the person in question still had the right to make some decisions for Miku. She went back into the kitchen, where Miku was working diligently with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Does your manager know about this little trip of yours?" Miku sent a well-knowing look in the direction of the songstress. Luka was just the type to do things without telling him and then get into trouble later. But she had come to like that aspect of her sometimes.

"Actually, he does. We argued for over an hour. I have to work double Monday and Tuesday because of it. I won't be able to come and get you." Luka hugged Miku from behind and made overly sad sounds. Miku couldn't help but smile and be a little amused.

"I'm proud of you." Miku threw the cut vegetables into a pan and put some oil on them. "If you let go of me, I could make dinner."

Luka let go and sat down on the workspace on the other side of the kitchen. She looked at Miku from behind. Luka had the impression that Miku would make a good housewife one day. Gritting her teeth in agony, she threw that thought out the window. If Miku was gonna be anyone's housewife, then it would be _hers_, and hers alone.

"The inn we're staying at is a really nice one. They only have six rooms and each room has a private garden and bathroom. There's also a large cypress bath. Too bad we can only stay one night." Luka was in a happy mood. The new songs were coming along quickly. If everything went well and the critics liked "Magnet," they would even get the chance to make a PV for it.

"How much did you pay for it?" Miku often thought about the economic value of things, and Luka really seemed to know no bounds or to hold back when it came to such things. One day she would be impoverished because of her inability to manage her finances.

"Something like fifty-three thousand yen." Luka said it like that was absolutely nothing.

Miku was so taken back that she cut her finger. Shaking her hand in pain and dropping the knife, Miku hissed and cursed. She suddenly stopped when Luka grabbed Miku's wrist and lifted said finger to her lips, gently sucking on it.

Miku was used to her antics and even sharing her bed with Luka, but this act brought a massive blush in her face. She forgot about the pain almost instantly and looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was spying on them. The pain was already gone, but Luka didn't stop. Instead, she came closer, finally letting go of Miku, but now pushing her against the cupboard.

She was a bit taller than Miku. Luka leaned over her, laying both arms around Miku's shoulders and getting close enough for a kiss. Luka didn't really mind if anyone saw her kissing Miku, but the embarrassed girl before her really did.

Closing her eyes as she always did to escape the captivating gaze of Luka's eyes, Miku let herself be kissed. She could still taste her own blood, but not much. Luka's lips always had a gentle and delicate taste of fruit to them. Giving in a little bit more, the smaller girl laid both her arms around Luka's waist.

The kiss intensified when Luka put more force behind her kiss and nudged Miku's lips with her tongue. Miku almost fell for it and opened her eyes. Whenever she looked into Luka's eyes this close up, her resolve and resistance melted away in seconds. She pushed Luka gently but sternly away, still a little red in the face.

"Let me make dinner first." Grabbing a band-aid from a nearby drawer, Miku put it on the cut that had already stopped bleeding and got back to making dinner. She knew that Luka would allow her no quiet minute now. "Go talk to Haku or Neru." Miku pointed to the exit of the kitchen and gave Luka a determined look.

With an overly disappointed look and sigh, Luka nodded. "Yes, yes."

Neru was lying on the ground next to the table, using her cellphone and grinning with a rather sinister expression. Haku was just leaning on the table, waiting for dinner. Luka only knew a bit about Haku, but according to Miku, she had an alcohol problem.

Luka sat down next to the white-haired woman and gave her a closer look. She was really good-looking, but apparently didn't care much for her appearance. Her hair was wild, and she wore really simple clothes. But her features were nice—especially those sad red eyes. It was a mystery why such a good-looking woman could let herself go.

"Is there…something you want?" Haku had noticed Luka's staring and moved a little bit away.

"I was just wondering what you were doing before you became unemployed." Luka had not heard much from Miku. The girl seemed a bit reluctant to tell others about her NEET cousin.

"Singing…" Haku whispered, and looked at the table. She really didn't want to talk to Luka about it. Luka was everything she wanted to be. Successful, high self-esteem, and on the verge of becoming extremely famous.

"What agency did you work for?" Luka was either really slow to realize when people didn't want to talk about something or just ignored such hints.

"Caffeine Music." Things she didn't want to remember came back up to Haku. The disappointment when she finally released her first single, the harsh critics, the spam on her blog…Haku was on the verge of crying, tears in her eyes.

Luka was about to ask more when suddenly two legs and a rather short skirt blocked her vision. Neru had stood up and was standing between Haku and Luka, arms crossed, her cellphone left on the ground and rather looking angry.

"Hey. I don't give a shit if you're a star or a god, but if you're acting like a bitch towards Haku just because you're a little successful, I'm going to throw you out. _Leave her alone._" Neru said it as brutally as possible, and Luka was actually a bit intimidated. She stood up.

Haku had started silently crying, and Neru knelt beside her, patting her head. It was such an odd image. Neru, the small, flat-chested and mean girl was actually comforting the tall, well-endowed, shy and depressed Haku.

Luka returned to the kitchen. Miku gave her a strange look. "What did you do to make Haku cry? Neru really hates it when someone does that." She was already frying the vegetables, but it didn't look like it was going to be a happy dinnertime.

"I just asked her what she did before she was unemployed." Luka shrugged and seemed a little bit concerned. "I didn't know she would cry. What in the world happened to make her that way?"

"I'll tell you later. If you're going to be around more, you should know, I guess." Miku was suddenly no longer in a good mood. Looking at the contents of the frying pan and listening to the sound of tears coming from the living room, Miku decided it'd be better for Luka to go before Neru turned her bad mood on her.

"I think it's better if we eat out or at your place tonight. I'll come right when I finish dinner. Wait for me in your car." Miku saw the disappointed look on the songstress's face and sighed. "Please?"

Luka really was disappointed, but couldn't help it. Even if she hadn't intended to, she had made Haku cry and Neru angry.

"Okay. I'll wait in my car." Luka came closer for a second and kissed Miku on the cheek. "Don't let me wait too long." Luka left the kitchen and avoided the harsh glare of Neru, who was still comforting Haku, on her way into Miku's room. Grabbing her purse and keys, Luka left without a word.

Out of the apartment, Luka hit her forehead with her hand. Why had she have to fuck up now? The mood had been really nice, but now…

It was cold outside, and the fact that she wasn't dressed for this weather was just adding to her temper. Sitting in her car, Luka hit the instruments.

After a long and loud honk, Luka leaned back in her seat. Why the blazes did she have such a big mouth? It wasn't really Haku's fault that things went this way. Annoyed with herself, Luka closed her eyes and turned up the heat inside the car. It was freezing.

Alone with her thoughts, Luka spent almost fifteen minutes alone until the door of Miku's apartment opened and the green-haired girl came down. Luka wasn't expecting her to carry luggage, so she wondered what was in the big bag that Miku was holding.

Going around the car, Miku put her bag in the back and then finally opened the passenger seat door and sat down. "Neru was really angry. She's the type to calm down if she's left alone, so it's best you don't show your face for a couple of days." Miku seemed more annoyed with her cousin than anyone else, but Luka didn't really want to say anything for fear of making everything worse.

Luka started the engine and drove them away, heading towards her own place. "We're not really dressed to go anywhere nice, but I know a nice noodle stand," Miku said, and explained to Luka where to drive.

The stand was empty around this time of the night and Luka and Miku just ordered miso ramen. After a few minutes of silence, Miku put down her chopsticks and sighed. "Haku was, when I was still little, in the same business you are. A small agency called Caffeine Music picked her up after she graduated from college. Things looked really good. She had a blog, some promotions and they released a single. We don't really know why, but the sales were horrendous. There was a lot of harassment against her, telling her how much she sucked and that kind of stuff. Haku took all of it really badly and started drinking and got more and more depressed. Caffeine Music went out of business, and Haku's career was ruined. That was a little over a year ago." Miku picked up her chopsticks and continued to eat.

Luka really felt terrible. She had a big mouth and often went after something if she wanted to know about it, but she wasn't cruel. If she had known that story, she never would've asked the poor woman. She really felt sorry for her and for bringing it back up.

"Haku knows you didn't have bad intentions. But she's…well, you saw her. She's a nice person, so Neru and I can't leave her alone, despite the problems she causes sometimes." Miku took a big sip from her bowl.

Luka concentrated on her dish and ate in silence. She was an only child and no longer had any relatives. She could imagine too well that Miku and Neru were concerned about their cousin. Finishing up her dish, Luka stared into the empty bowl. She'd really fucked up there.

Miku could see how bad Luka felt. It didn't hurt her to feel like this once a while, but it really was a pitiful thing to look at. She against Luka on the wooden bench and smiled to herself. She would've been really angry if Luka hadn't shown some remorse.

"It's okay if you feel sorry for her. But don't pity her. Haku really doesn't want that, and neither do I. She is not as good at singing as you, but she has her own charms. I want her to sing again one day." Miku was getting a bit cold and moved closer to the woman next to her.

"Maybe I can do something. I want to make it up to her." Luka laid an arm around her partner and smiled a little. "The great Luka will not let this sit on her." She looked at Miku, leaned down a bit, and kissed her on the cheek. "Should I drive you back?"

"No. I've got some clothes in the bag I brought with me. Neru said I should just stay at your place tonight, since I was going to be gone tomorrow anyway," Miku replied in a small voice and exhaled heavily, her breath showing in the cold air. "Let's go to your place. I want to take a shower."

Miku waited in the car while Luka paid their bill. When she returned to the car, Miku thought about the woman next to her. She was a bit obnoxious, loudmouthed, demanding, and all in all a big tease and too curious. But she, too, had a really caring side and was a romantic. And she didn't hold back, she actually said what she felt out loud.

Lately, Miku could feel her heart beating faster whenever Luka came close. Was she really this attracted to her? Had she fallen in love with Luka? Spending their days together, and despite everything that could go wrong, they liked every moment with each other…

Looking beside her at the face of the woman that drove the car, Miku showed a gentle and happy smile. Luka kept one of her hands on the clutch. Almost as if by reflex, Miku laid her own hand on top of Luka's, her own fingers slowly reaching in the gaps between Luka's.

Luka didn't dare look to the side. She was driving much too fast for that. But she smiled happily and her expression relaxed quite a bit.

It was dark outside when they finally got to Luka's place. Miku walked arm in arm with Luka. There no was reason for her to do so beside wanting to.

Luka had some trouble finding her keys. After all, her eyes were constantly on Miku, and that wasn't likely to change for the rest of the evening. After finally opening the door, they went into the warm apartment. Luka always left the heater on. She disliked a cold apartment when she came home.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Miku said, and finally let go of Luka. She left her bag right at the entrance and Luka picked it up. She couldn't resist taking a peek. Miku had picked a few of her best clothes to go out. Even if it was only to relax at the hot springs. Did she want to look good for Luka?

Luka carried the bag in her bedroom and dropped on the bed. Things had really gotten out of hand. Didn't she have just a crush on Miku a little while ago? And now, she was feeling so happy just about being together with her. How had her feelings changed this fast? Did she like Miku that much? She didn't have to think about it. Luka blushed as she arrived at her answer. She was already in love with Miku.

Maybe that was why they could sing "Magnet" so well. Because their feelings were mutual. They really were in love with each other.

Despite how the evening had started…Luka was risking just a bit more today. She undressed in her room, down to nothing but a towel, and then she slowly walked to the bathroom. She could hear the sound of water gushing. Miku was already under the shower.

When she tried the door, she found that it wasn't locked. Her heart was beating in her throat, hard and fast. Noticing only now that she was drooling, Luka quickly got rid of it with her towel. And with a sinister and wide grin, Luka quietly opened the door and slipped in. Miku was behind the glass wall of the shower.

She dropped her towel on the same stool Miku had thrown her clothes on, then sneaked closer. Thank God Luka's shower was loud and the door was easy to open. Stepping in, Luka let the door fall closed behind her.

Miku rarely wore her hair down. In a surprise attack, Luka laid both her arms around the waist of the green-haired girl and pulled her toward herself.

Miku didn't react like Luka hoped she would. She had wanted to give her a little scare, make her all fidgety and surprised. But instead, the girl just leaned back. The water was now gushing on Luka too, and her long pink hair was almost glued to her back.

"I didn't forget to lock the door," Miku said in a quiet voice so that Luka almost couldn't hear. "I left it open." Miku knew Luka well enough to anticipate her "surprise." Turning around, not breaking the embrace, Miku leaned against Luka.

When Miku one of her fingers over Luka's stomach, the woman hissed. She was really ticklish. Moving up, she soon reached Luka's breasts. Miku was a little envious of her. She pulled Luka back with her, leaning against the wall. The water gave her skin a nice shine and Miku could feel that she was getting more than just a little excited.

Luka was not the type to let Miku take the lead. Leaning forward, her own breasts rubbed against Miku's, making the smaller girl gasp in surprise. Luka then lifted the chin of the now blushing girl a bit and started to kiss her. First her lips, then her ears, and finally her neck.

She could feel Miku getting more excited. Her nipples were getting hard. Luka backed away just enough to get one hand between their bodies and ran one hand over Miku's chest. Gently massaging her breasts, she made the girl blush in a fierce red.

"Luka…wait…" Miku gasped and broke out of another kiss. "Let's…continue in bed…" Miku wanted this as much as Luka did, but she didn't want their first time to be in the shower, nor did she have big demands like a candle-filled room. Normal was best.

Luka backed up a step. This wasn't leaving her unaffected either. She wanted Miku _now_, and her body was showing that. Luka grabbed Miku and suddenly carried her out of the shower like a princess. Not even bothering to grab a towel or turn off the water, Luka carried the embarrassed girl to her bed.

Letting her down, Miku quickly disappeared under the thick blanket. Luka followed. The warmth of their bodies heated up the bed quickly. Miku was lying down, watching straight into Luka's face, who knelt above her. Slowly leaning down, Luka kissed Miku passionately, and this time, it was the younger girl who poked the lips of her partner with her tongue.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku was still in her partner's arms when she woke up. She wasn't cold, but she was feeling a little bit uncomfortable, sleeping naked for the first time. Remembering the night before made her turn red a little bit. Luka was right there, hugging her from behind.

She looked at the clock on the little drawer next to the bed and she saw it was only about nine in the morning. That was okay, for a Saturday.

Luka's hair tickled her back. Trying to get away just a little bit, the woman opened her eyes and yawned a sleepy "Mornin'," in Miku's direction. Miku lifted herself up and crawled towards Luka, just to kiss her on the cheek.

Miku spotted her bag of clothes from the bed and pulled one of the blankets with her, wrapping it around herself, and went to get the bag. Luka rolled once over and kept lying on her stomach, barely following Miku with her eyes.

"What time is it…?" Luka yawned again and pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself.

"Almost nine. Get up, sleepyhead. You still haven't told me anything about when we're actually going to Gunma." Miku pulled a a knee-length jean skirt and a yellow top from her bag. Her underwear was still in the bathroom and…oh God.

They had forgotten to turn off the water. That'd be really costly. Miku made her way to the bathroom and found the shower still running. Turning it off, she grabbed her underwear and Luka's towel. It actually smelled a bit like her. Passing by the big mirror, Miku nearly had a seizure.

Her hair was a total mess. A catastrophic mess. If only she didn't have such long hair! This would take forever to fix. With a somewhat disappointed expression, Miku dressed right there in the bathroom. A good five minutes later, when she got back to the bedroom, Miku found Luka sound asleep.

"Wake up!" Miku shouted and Luka reacted like a snail that shrank back into its house. "Get…_up!_" Miku pulled on the blanket and Luka pulled back. The songstress had the advantage, but Miku didn't give up. Gathering all her strength, Miku pulled one mighty last time and Luka almost fell out of bed along with the blanket.

"Why…?" Luka covered herself from the cold and crawled to the edge of the bed. "Meanie…" Luka slowly got up, not minding the least that she was walking around naked. She even made a little play out of it and teased Miku by being extra slow in picking out clothes and doing a few unnecessary movements.

Miku kept her mouth forcefully shut with her hand. Luka's hair was just as messy as her own. It would take hours to fix this. Miku looked for a comb and finally found a heavily used one. Luka always had to look good, so that was no surprise.

"Your hair is a mess. But mine probably doesn't look any better." Luka sighed and confirmed as much by leaning forward and letting her hair hang down over her head. "I don't regret doing it like that one bit…but why the hell does hair always turn out like this?" Luka still remembered the last moment.

_Miku was right below her, panting heavily and gasping, her body pressed right against Luka's. They had just climaxed together and Luka had just told Miku the three magic words: "I love you."_

_Miku responded with a deep, passionate kiss, laying her arms around Luka, whispering back. "I love you too." _

Both of them had felt it for some time, but they had finally said it like that. Miku was still a little shy about it, but she didn't pretend to not have liked it. Luka had never acted shy anyway, so not much changed.

"I'll do yours, you do mine?" Luka had finally finished dressing. She was wearing a long red skirt and a black top with a mostly open back. Sitting down on the bed right behind Miku, she took the comb from her hands.

"Sometimes I wonder if I should just go for a short cut like Gum." Miku knew that Luka didn't like her rival much, but it was just hair. "Do you think that'd look good on me?" Miku didn't move, since Luka was already combing her hair.

"I like your long hair. It fits nicely together with mine. I don't think a short cut would look good on you." Luka also had one other reason to say so. She really adored smelling Miku's hair when they slept together in the same bed. And last night, she had really enjoyed playing with it.

"Well, if you say so, I guess I'll keep it." Miku pulled her legs closer and wrapped both her arms around them, resting her head on her knees while Luka combed and fixed her hair.

"It takes about two hours to get to Gunma, a bit longer if we take the car, but I don't like the train. Check-in is at two, so we have plenty of time." Luka was still a bit sleepy and yawned almost twice while talking to Miku.

"Luka…next time you want to sleep with me…don't surprise me in the shower. We left the water on. It ran the whole night." Miku had to smile and giggle while saying so. She loved Luka and was not afraid of saying or proving it.

"That's gonna show on the bill…" Luka lamented and acted very depressed until she too had to giggle. She stopped combing for a moment, then she laid both arms around Miku's shoulders and kissed her ear, then her neck. "But you liked it…"

"Did I ever deny that?" Miku smiled happily. It was the right decision to give going out with Luka a try. When she thought about how much she would have missed…she had never been sure that she was a lesbian, but last night had made that pretty clear. "Get on with the combing. I still want to eat something before we leave for Gunma. I'm happy to go there with you, after all."

Luka sulked a bit but let go of Miku and continued combing. Just enjoying the quiet atmosphere of being together, the two spent most of their morning fixing each other's hair. Miku couldn't find her hair ties no matter how much she looked, so she just let it go and went out with her hair down.

It was after twelve when they finally got in Luka's car. It was perfect weather. Sunny, not too windy and almost no clouds. It was rare for that time of the year. Luka and Miku were both anticipating the trip like little kids. Their first lovestruck overnight trip somewhere.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"I can't believe I had to ask you of all people. What a waste." Meiko looked out the window. The scenery flew past her. The train was fast, so they would be in Gunma in a little over a hour from now. She still cursed herself for overlooking that little detail until yesterday. There was no way to get a decent man out of nowhere, and the only one she could ask on that short notice…was _him_.

Kaito felt a little threatened by Meiko's glare. He was still wondering how he managed to get a date with her. She had just shown up at his place, waved two coupon things in front of his face, and said something about Gunma. The next thing he knew, he was in her car and on the way to the train station.

"You still haven't told me where we're going." Kaito didn't really know what to say. Meiko had been a bit touchy, more so than usual today, and she was oddly quiet. Quiet towards him, at least.

"Gunma, Kusatsu Hot Springs." Meiko rummaged through her handbag and found the coupons she had in her hand earlier. Kaito took them and looked them over. They were for the most expensive inn in the area. One night free stay, two meals included, only applicable for a couple.

Kaito read twice more to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. A _couple?_ Could he finally have hit the jackpot? But his dreams quickly vanished into thin air when Meiko grabbed the coupons and pointed to a little note at the bottom.

Kaito read it out loud. "One man and one woman, all you can eat and drink buffet." With his head hanging, he suddenly knew why he was being pulled along. All you can drink was most likely also including sake and other alcohol. So he was just the token to get her in.

"I won those in the raffle of the supermarket I shop at. Nobody else had time." Meiko pulled a small flask out of her bag. Now that Kaito thought about it, he had neither his wallet nor his cellphone or even clothes to change with him.

"But what's done is done. As long as you don't keep me from drinking, this will be fun." Her mood seemed to get much better now that she had taken a sip of whatever was in the pocket flask. "Want some?" She handed the flask over to Kaito. The guy reluctantly took a sip and broke out into a coughing fit.

"What…what is this?!" Kaito handed the flask back to Meiko and suddenly felt sick. He was no big drinker and whatever was in that flask…it was likely strong enough to power a rocket.

"Just something I made. You don't like it?" Meiko didn't really care either way. Not even her boss was able to appreciate the taste of this one.

"Way too hard for me." Kaito was still the same old direct guy he always was.

"They'll have something lighter at the inn, I guess. I hope they won't serve just weak trash." She took another sip. By now a little shade of red was showing up in Meiko's face. It was too bad this bottle was the last of this batch.

"You're amazing, being able to drink that stuff. I feel a bit dizzy after just trying it. Your liver must be made of steel," Kaito said, and immediately felt the consequences of his words.

Meiko didn't appreciate when people told her she drank too hard. Kicking his leg, Meiko made herself comfortable on the opposing side of the bench. She was wearing a dangerously short red skirt and a fitted top. Kaito knew that was her uniform from her job. The long brown boots were a nice match.

"Peek and it'll be the last thing you see," Meiko said without looking, and closed her eyes, taking a nap until they arrived.

Kaito whispered to himself, trying not to anger Meiko any more than he already had. "Such misfortune…"

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku was so scared that she was about to faint. Some moron had passed Luka, kept tempo and started a battle. Now they were speeding at way over the limit on the highway, and Miku was holding on so tightly to the seat that nothing could get her off of it.

"That ass…eat my dust!" Luka drove at an unimaginable speed into a corner and left the highway, going over a mountain pass. She would not lose to some runaway jerk! As expected, he followed right after her. She had driven this pass quite a few times and she was running.

The car behind them was a 4WD Lan Evo. He was keeping up with Luka but was losing out on the curves. Luka pulled the clutch and sped away into a hairpin, letting the car drift with singing tires. The Lan Evo followed her, but her FD had the advantage now.

There was no way she'd lose now, not with Miku watching. She had participated in street runs before her work had gotten to be too much, and Erico had found out about it. This was nothing! Stepping on the accelerator and nearly over-speeding, Luka did a sharp turn in the next corner and stepped fully on the accelerator, leaving the Lan Evo behind her.

She was getting a lot of distance between them on the straightaway and took a sharp left turn on the next corner. The Lan Evo had vanished from her rear mirror. Ha! She could still do it. Using the coming up straightaway, Luka pulled the car around, stepped on the accelerator, and passed the Lan Evo with high speed, showing the arrogant prick her middle finger and tongue as she passed.

It didn't even take her five minutes to get back to the highway. Luka was now in a good mood and put on some music. She was still speeding, but not as much as before, and slowly calming down. It was risky to do this at noon, and usually she would have ignored the guy in the Lan Evo, but she wanted to show off in front of Miku.

"I thought I was gonna die…" Miku was pale and gasping in her seat. She could barely hear her own thoughts over the booming techno sound. "_Faster go raising hell, harder go raising hell._"

"That was awesome. I can still do it, yeah!" Luka was celebrating and yelling. Shooting over the highway at at least twenty miles too fast, Luka saw the sign for the exit she needed right ahead.

Slowing down to human speeds, Luka took the exit and left the highway again. Miku finally let go of the seat and rubbed her knuckles, still a little pale. She had never seen anyone drive like that, much less when she was in the car.

"Please don't do that again, Luka. I thought I was a goner." Miku took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat. Despite the scariness of it, she admired Luka's driving skill. "But you're really an amazing driver. That guy totally ate your dust."

Luka seemed to burst from self-esteem now. Smiling happily, she put on the navigation system and waited for it to calculate the route to the hotel. From the look of it, the hotel was twenty minutes from the highway to the inn.

"I used to run in street races. I was a member of the Shining Suns. There was no one that could beat me in a hill climb. There's still a lot of money in my car from those times," Luka told her partner as she turned down the volume of the music. Taking the next corner, Miku opened the window and took a deep breath. They had kept the windows closed on the highway because of the speed but Luka couldn't drive like that here.

"It's nice here. I can't wait to see what the inn looks like." Miku had never been to Gunma before. It was quite different from Tokyo, but she had expected as much. Halfway leaning on the door, Miku enjoyed the fresh air and the wind. Her hair flew in the wind and it gave her a fairy-like appearance. Luka had to try hard not to look too much and concentrate on the road.

Roughly a quarter of an hour later, Luka finally parked her car and pulled the keys out of the ignition. The inn was fantastic, a very quiet and tranquil place that seemed perfect to relax. There was a big red sun umbrella in the front. It looked really expensive, even from the outside.

"Come on, Miku." Luka was already a few steps ahead and had turned around. Luka really looked like a celebrity like that.

Miku followed after. Walking side by side, they entered the inn. Miku was so busy looking at every corner of the lobby that Luka had already checked in for both of them and even had to grab Miku's wrist to get her away.

"This place is gorgeous, Luka." Miku was still looking around. She had a very curious and easily amazed side to her when it came to places such as this. It made Luka giggle a bit.

"Wait until you see the room. Oh, and I used your name to sign us in. Luka and Miku Hatsune. I really didn't want to leave my name there. I want to relax, and not deal with fans here," Luka said casually and ignored Miku's slightly annoyed face. At least she could have asked her before she did things like that.

Luka opened the door to their room with a special key and Miku was stunned after stepping in. The room was not just large, it was _big_. Miku had never seen a room of this size in a hotel. Miku had to actually count the mats. The rooms were spread over _fourteen_ tatami mats. The sleeping room was so big, four people could have easily slept in there.

The room was nicely decorated and there were even cushioned chairs next to the low table. Miku's eyes shone just looking around. And they were going to sleep here? Miku almost couldn't believe it. After a wink from Luka, Miku found the bath. There was enough room for four people, and they had their own garden view. The bath was linked to their room, so they had it all to themselves.

Luka had already casually thrown her bag into a corner of the sleeping room and made herself comfortable at the table. There were a few welcome dishes, and since neither of them had had any breakfast, Luka was already munching away when Miku joined her.

"This place is amazing. I almost feel bad for staying here at your expense," Miku said, picking up her chopsticks. Since most of the people in her household liked western food, she wasn't too good with them, but at least she w as better than Luka, who ignored all table manners and stuffed herself.

"If you feel bad, you can repay me with sex later," Luka said, her mouth full of food. She took a large gulp and continued to munch away. Looking at her, it seemed like the most natural thing for her to say.

Miku gave her a shocked look which quickly changed into a harsh glare. "What are you, an old man? Pervert." Miku looked all over the room, except in Luka's direction.

Stopping in her brutal assault of the dishes, Luka started to laugh at Miku's antics. "I was just joking, stupid. I invited you, and I have enough money to do this every now and then. Don't you worry about such a thing." Luka stood up and sat down next to Miku, leaning in for a kiss. But instead of kissing her, Miku picked a piece of rice from Luka's cheek with her tongue.

"You really have no manners at all, you know that?" Miku smiled and quickly forgave her partner. "But I guess that can be one of your charms, too."

Luka leaned back, a little disappointed that she had gotten no kiss but at least satisfied and full. Now, what to do? Taking a bath right after dinner was not really her thing, but maybe she'd best ask Miku before doing anything.

"What do you want to do now? We're here to relax, so we can do anything. We can take a bath anytime, or we could check the area. Or we _could_…" Luka licked her lips suggestively.

"I want you to help me with the words for my song." Miku knew that probably wasn't much in the way of relaxing, but she had to get it done soon. And the sooner, the better. Even though the agency said to come up with lyrics on her own, that was just asking too much.

"I'm really not supposed to help you there, but I guess I can make an exception." Luka smiled and hid her disappointment that Miku hadn't gone for her last suggestion. Pulling a sketch block from her bag, Luka looked around for a pen and finally found one.

"I already have a general idea of the song, but I need to work on the details," Miku said. She lay down on her stomach, next to Luka, who was holding the pen. "The title of the song is 'Love is War.' Yes, I thought about you with that one." Miku smiled and watched Luka blush a little.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"Finally here!" Meiko stretched, standing just outside the train station. Kaito, looking a little bit desperate and forgotten, stood behind her, still worried about what might happen if Meiko took him along on her drinking spree. But he'd get to spend time with her and even share a room. He was suddenly miles closer to having an actual date with her than ever before.

"Let's get moving. It's already past three. I don't wanna be late for check-in." Meiko waved and left, stomping ahead with a bright wide smile that resembled a somewhat demonic grin. Kaito wondered if the poor inn staff knew what it was in for.

Kaito was still slightly worried that he had no wallet, cellphone, or change with him. He had gotten a little lucky when he found out that the inn offered yukata for use by their guests for free. At least he wouldn't have to wear the same clothes after the bath.

Keeping up with Meiko, however, proved to be rather difficult. The woman was quick on her feet and Kaito had to almost jog next to her. But he had good stamina, so it worked out fine in the end. It took them a whole ten minutes of nearly running and silence, followed by panting from the sprint.

Kaito's wristwatch read three-thirty. They must've broken some sort of record by going this fast. Meiko pulled on Kaito's wrist and dragged him inside. Both of them signed in, each with their full name, and they were handed the keys for the room and the bath.

"This is really a expensive place, that they have baths directly linked to the rooms." Kaito was quite astonished and followed Meiko, who seemed eager to get to her room.

"I'll use the bath first." Meiko turned around, just before she opened the door to their room. "No peeking." She had a really dangerous look in her eyes that made it pretty clear something unspeakable would happen if he did peek.

"I'm not that low. Can't say I wouldn't enjoy looking at you naked, though—" Meiko stepped on his foot. That guy really had some nerve. She blushed deep red and repeated her warning once more. This time, Kaito only nodded with a pain-filled expression.

With complete disregard for the room, Meiko looked for the sake and found it in a drawer. Her boots were already flying across the room when she was halfway to the bath, and her top followed shortly afterward. Kaito had to force himself to look away.

"Hard not to peek if she's undressing in the middle of the room." He did get a glimpse of her chest from the corner of his eye before she vanished in the bathroom.

Kaito collected the discarded clothes and put them together. He was not the most tidy guy on earth, but Meiko lacked all sense of order, apparently. He had never seen her place, but based on what he'd just seen, he was now kind of afraid of seeing it one day.

Checking around the room, he found that there was no dividing wall in the sleeping room. Well, Meiko probably wouldn't mind that much. The room was really high grade. There were even welcome dishes on the table. Kaito was not a big eater, but he was kind of hungry from all the running.

He wondered what he should do now. He was alone with Meiko in a really expensive hotel, and she was probably going to drag him along to drink or spend all day in the bath, drinking. Just as he was thinking that, the bathroom door opened, a lot of steam rose in the main room, followed by a completely naked Meiko, who was already staggering and nearly falling down. The empty sake bottle was at her feet.

Kaito could feel his blood pressure rising into heights never reached before. He forced himself hard to turn around and say, as loud as he could without actually shouting, "T-towel…"

Meiko took a look down and quickly vanished back in the bathroom, only to appear back outside with a long towel wrapped around herself.

Kaito was still suffering from the rush of blood to his head because Meiko had wrapped the towel nowhere near high enough. More than half of her breasts were exposed and Kaito's eyes were following the jiggling up and down all the way from the bathroom to the sake bar. She was still going to drink more?!

Kaito took a deep breath. He could have used a cold—_very_ cold—shower right now. And on top of that, he congratulated himself for coming on this trip. He had heard in the lobby that there was a large cypress bath too, though. And he was feeling kinda sweaty. In many ways.

But first he would simply lie down and take a nap. Being on tour with Meiko was really stressful. Lying on his back and staring very intently at the ceiling, Kaito had to try hard to not think about the naked Meiko…and still wasn't able to stop his thoughts. More than a little excited, he rolled over and closed his eyes. "Sleep…"

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"In the end, you really didn't need my help." Luka lay on her back and yawned. How long had they been at it? The clock said nearly five now. She wanted to go and take a bath already. Now that Miku was done, they could finally spend some quality time together. Miku had blocked her off the whole time while they were working. _"Love is War" indeed_, Luka thought.

"You were there and told me when something was good and when it wasn't. That helped a lot. Thanks." Miku knelt at the table, finishing writing the last piece of the lyrics. Leaning down, she gave Luka a little reward: a kiss on the forehead. "I want to see the big cypress bath once. Please?"

Miku was in a good mood, and since she owed Luka for helping her out, she was actually appealing to her good persona. Well, there had to be some good and selfless part in there. Somewhere.

"I don't care, as long as we get to bathe. There's probably nobody in the big bath anyway, so…" Luka moved a finger seductively over her lips and then touched Miku's.

Miku snapped after the finger, but Luka pulled it away. With a huge grin, Miku grabbed the keys, leaving everything as it was, and waited at the door. "Are you coming?"

"Not yet," Luka said in an overly breathy voice, and Miku rolled her eyes.

"Your bad sense of humor never fails to amaze me, Luka." Miku took Luka's hand and their fingers intertwined just like they always walked around holding hands. Nobody here knew them. Luka was here under a fake name and Miku had her hair down. Unless they met someone they knew directly then…

Luka stood open-mouthed in the hallway. That couldn't possibly be…

"Kaito!" she yelled, and the man at the other end of the hallway turned around, looking confused, pointing at himself with his finger.

The guy quickly came over. Miku was a bit nervous about it, since Luka refused to let go of her hand and instead pulled her even closer. She seemed really intent on making it clear that they were a couple now. The last time Kaito had seen them together was a while ago.

"What are you two doing here? Lovers' trip?" He didn't smile knowingly or anything. It was a serious question. But Miku only knew that because she had experienced first-hand how direct and honest this guy was.

"Exactly. But that brings me to what are _you_ doing here. I didn't think you could afford such a place." Luka finally let go of Miku's hand, whose heartbeat was going at an alarming rate. Luka had casually admitted that they were together…well, just in front of Kaito.

"Meiko burst into my place earlier today, yelling something about Kusatsu Hot Springs and coupons and dragged me along. I was on a train to Gunma before I knew what was going on. She's probably still drinking in our room." Kaito seemed torn between pleased and afraid while he told his little story.

With a swift movement, Luka laid her arm around Miku's waist and pulled her close. They really did look like a couple now; it was unmistakable. Miku had stopped minding after she remembered that Kaito was the least likely person to ever tell anyone. He was a really nice guy despite his personality.

Leaning slightly against Luka, Miku finally got some words out. "So you're here with Meiko? That's nice, isn't it? Good luck." Miku made it no secret that she was rooting for the nice guy to get the girl he had been after for years now.

"I need a miracle, and not luck, but thank you. I was on my way to grab dinner. Where are you two going?" Kaito's stomach growled as if to enforce said statement.

"The cypress bath." Luka looked for a second at Miku with a really seductive look, and Kaito instantly got the hint. He showed a big smile and took a step back, ready to go.

"Have fun. I've already been there. It's really nice. See you later, maybe." Kaito didn't wait for a reply and quickly vanished around the corner.

"You were so nervous when he showed up, I was a bit worried you might faint on the spot." Luka teased the smaller girl and started giggling when Miku acted like she was sulking. Luka still had her arm around her and they walked to the bath as they were.

The bath was really big—one large basin and one small one. The whole room was cypress styled. The ground was so clean and pure that it reflected the image of the rocks outside, which were visible through the window. Several large lamps were at the sides of the room. It wasn't a mixed bath, which relieved Miku a little.

Undressing was slightly unpleasant. Luka watched her so intently, Miku felt like she was doing a striptease. She quickly threw a towel at Luka and quickly undressed, then Miku went ahead in the bath and into the large basin.

Luka took her time walking over and Miku's eyes followed instinctively every step. The woman was walking with long steps on purpose, making her breasts jiggle a bit. Miku felt again a little envious. Looking down and touching her own chest, she felt confident that it was a nice size, but…

Luka joined Miku in the water and quickly approached her from behind, stopping just inches away. Sitting there, Luka pulled Miku into her lap and leaned on her from behind. "Don't worry, I like them as they are," Luka whispered in Miku's ear, and let two of her fingers move over the nicely-shaped breasts of the green-haired girl.

Miku said nothing and blushed a little. She felt happy over that compliment because she knew Luka would never lie to her about it. And she also felt a little aroused with Luka's chest pressing on her back.

The pink-haired woman had both her arms around Miku's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. Miku took one of her hands and started to kiss it slowly. She didn't want to have sex with Luka here, but exchanging caresses was something she liked.

"You're such a romantic, Miku," Luka whispered in the girl's ear and kissed her neck gently. Miku really enjoyed this kind of thing. Freeing herself slowly from Luka, Miku turned around and moved onto Luka's lap, her arms around Luka's neck to support herself.

"You're beautiful as you are, Miku." She made the girl on her lap smile again and earned herself a passionate kiss. Luka's hands moved slowly over Miku's back. Even though she got quite excited when her breasts rubbed against Miku's, she didn't want to go any further than this. Sex wasn't everything.

A few passionate kisses later, Miku let go of Luka and stood up. She was gasping for air. Despite all the singing she had been doing lately, she still couldn't keep up with Luka. "Let's go back. I'm feeling kinda dizzy." Miku wasn't sure if it was from the heat of the water or from her lover.

Luka quietly followed, both of them grabbing their towels and clothes. If they were quick, they could make it to their room without being seen. Wrapping the towels around themselves, Luka watching Miku a bit too intently again, they peeked out the door. Nobody was there. They were probably all eating.

Moving quickly but not quite running, both of them arrived at their room gasping for air. Luka opened the door and they slipped in. Dropping the wet towel, Luka grabbed Miku and pulled her close for a sudden but passionate deep kiss.

Miku returned the kiss just as fiercely, but then stopped. "Let's continue this later in our own bath…" She wanted to try doing it with Luka in the hot water. Her face was a deep shade of red, much the same as Luka, who was surprised that Miku had suggested it.

She gave Miku a quick kiss on her nose, then the older woman grabbed her towel and started drying her hair. "I don't think I've ever told you, but I really like your eyes. You always close them when we kiss, though. It's such a shame." Picking out some clothes from her bag with the towel on her head, she found Miku doing the same, with the towel wrapped around her as she pulled a hairdryer from her bag.

"It's more romantic that way. And we've only been together for a while. Give me some time to get used to it." Miku showed Luka a pleading smile, and the songstress accepted with a happy grin. She couldn't really object when she was being so honest.

"The food here is nice, but I want to go out while we have the chance. There's a nice German restaurant around the corner." Luka pulled a really beautiful long blue dress from her suitcase and held it up. "Does this look good on me?"

Miku seemed to think for a bit and then made an annoyed face. "So good that I'm going to be jealous if you wear it," she said, looking through her own things with a little more effort. She finally found the same dress she had worn when she had first gone out with Luka.

"If you're going to wear that, then I need to watch out, or you'll steal all the attention for yourself," Luka teased. She grabbed Miku's hairdryer and looked for a power socket. She found one near the door to the sleeping room. Her dress laid out over her suitcase, Miku sat down next to Luka and enjoyed some of the warm wind while drying her hair manually with a towel.

Miku helped Luka to do her hair, and while she herself was busy getting in her dress and shoes, the pink-haired woman put on some light makeup. "Want me to put some on you? You don't need it, though, because you're the type to naturally look good."

"I don't really like wearing makeup. But you could help me with my hair. I can't seem to get it as nicely done as you did this morning." Miku sat down in front of Luka and handed her a comb.

A good ten minutes later, they had finished dressing up and were all ready to go out. Taking the keys, Luka made sure they hadn't forgotten anything. She also promised herself to watch exactly how much Miku drank. The evening was to go on after they got back.

"Ready to go?" Luka stood in the door frame and extended her hand to Miku. She wanted to go the same way they had gone earlier to the bath. Miku took her hand, and when the door behind them fell shut, Luka had already laid her arm around Miku's waist.

"Are you nervous?" Luka was curious.

"No. Not at all. You're with me, after all." Miku smiled happily and laid her own arm around Luka's waist.

~~~ End of Chapter III ~~~


	4. Sake and Dance

A/N: I'm trying to get this out as fast as I can but dear readers, you have to keep in mind that I am not doing this solo. I have people I depend on working with me, and they have their lives too, so sometines editing ( content ) and editing ( Grammar ) takes a bit. That said, chapter 5 is being edited as we speak, and I am going to write chapter 6 as soon as I manage to break free from my Grandia addiction D:

**Hear My Song!**

**Chapter IV**

_Sake and Dance_

Haku had finally managed to explain what had happened with Luka the evening before. Neru was still in a bad mood about it, but at least they were going to be at the inn any minute now. Walking from the train station took roughly fifteen minutes because Neru's agency wasn't that generous with expenses. But the little exercise worked wonders for her temper.

As they walked quietly next to each other, they made an odd pair. Neru, short and flat, looked a bit like a street punk. She was wearing a simple yellow tank top, black jeans with a pair of cheap bootees, and her hair up in a ponytail. Haku, on the other hand, was wearing a black shirt and a denim dress on top which doubled as a skirt. It nearly reached her knees. With her knee-high laced boots, Haku was quite a view.

The inn wasn't big or expensive. Neru had been boiling when she found out Luka was taking Miku to the most expensive inn around the Kusatsu Hot Springs. Haku had been very quiet on the train, listening to Neru's ranting patiently.

It was unlikely that anyone would still recognize her, and it felt good to be away from home for a change. Haku actually was enjoying this little trip more than Neru was. Her depression let up just a little whenever she went somewhere with Neru. Miku knew about Haku's past, but she just didn't care about Haku as much or as intently as the blond girl did.

"Finally. Thought we'd die of old age before we got here." Neru was the same everywhere she went. She took Haku's hand and pulled her along, as she wanted to get rid of their luggage. The checking-in and a hot bath couldn't come fast enough. Neru still had to work, but at least she could spend the entire time with Haku without hiding their relationship.

"Neru, you don't have to pull so much." Haku was being dragged along quite forcibly and was having problems keeping up. The silver-haired woman was not used to walking much and she wasn't feeling too well. Neru had not let her drink anything for the past few days.

"Sorry." Neru eased her grip.

After talking to the employee in the lobby, Neru quickly got their keys. She already had marks on her shoulders from carrying the heavy bag. While Neru hurried to the room, Haku spent a bit more time looking around the place. It was not very expensive, but the people were nice and friendly, and the atmosphere was relaxing. It was completely different from home.

The door was already open when the former songstress reached the right room and found Neru sprawled out on the floor. A tiny smile flitted over her lips, and when Haku knelt down next to the tiny girl, a few strands of her silver hair tickled Neru. With an annoyed expression, Neru got up again and crawled to the door, kicking it closed.

"It's been a while since we've been alone somewhere…" Haku felt a little embarrassed all of a sudden. For a moment, she felt like a young girl going on a trip with her friend. But truly, things were nothing like that. Neru was her lover, not just her friend. And she wasn't young anymore. But still, feeling like that again made her just a little bit happy.

The blond girl crawled on all fours to her partner and caressed her cheek with her hand, followed by a short kiss. Neru had never regretted getting into this sort of relationship with Haku at all.

"Neru…I want to take a bath. I'm all sticky." Haku pulled at her hair and seemed quite displeased. It was sweaty. The A/C in the train hadn't been working properly. It had been way too hot. Pulling on the upper edge of her shirt, Haku felt like she was being steamed.

With a gentle smile, Neru looked into the eyes of her partner and happily nodded. She would enjoy being able to bathe with Haku. Usually she couldn't, because Miku might get suspicious, but now…

Coming even closer, Neru laid both arms around the taller woman. No matter what happened, they would always be together.

Though Haku was now looking directly into Neru's golden eyes, she still couldn't get rid of the little shyness that remained. Closing her eyes, she eagerly awaited Neru's kiss. Whenever she was alone with Neru, she felt different. Like everything else didn't matter anymore.

Neru kissed her cousin passionately, poking Haku's lips with her tongue. She wasn't one to do things half-assed. Haku's face flushed as her tongue met Haku's. Their bodies shaking from excitement, Neru's hand slipped under the shirt of the other woman, fiercely groping her breasts.

Haku grabbed Neru's arm and shook her head. "Can't we take a bath first? I feel all dirty like this."

It was rare that Haku voiced her opinion against Neru's actions. The blond girl backed off immediately and smiled, oddly happy about Haku taking a stand against her.

There were no towels in the room; they would probably be at the bath. Neru took the keys and the two left for the bath, leaving everything as it was. Neru still licked her lips, with made Haku avert her eyes. It turned the novelist girl on when Haku acted shy.

To Neru's disappointment, there were other people in the bath as well, which meant they couldn't act like a couple. Neru was oddly cautious when it came to her relationship with Haku being exposed to other people.

The big bath was one very large tub. It was nice, with stone plates. It looked very well maintained. It was open air, so both women got chills on their back before they went into the water. There were several small wooden buckets to wash with, too.

"I'll wash your back later," Neru whispered, and hoped that the other guests would soon leave.

Neru could see one woman in the other corner of the tub staring at Haku's chest. Haku was quite well endowed, so it was not uncommon for people to stare at her. Her silver hair, large height, and red eyes didn't help that matter.

Neru got angry very easily when people stared at Haku. She was the type to get jealous quickly. But Haku simply turned around and grabbed Neru's wrist. "Neru…"

When Haku said her name with her sad face, all resistance and anger simply vanished.

It took nearly ten minutes, but at last, the other guest—the staring woman—left. They were finally alone in the bath. Neru took the chance right away and kissed Haku. She was always painfully reminded of how she lacked in the chest area when they were like this, but Haku never said anything or made fun of her. Neru hated the fact that she was so flat, and envied even Miku a bit, but…Haku accepted her as she was.

Returning the kiss as passionately as it was given, Haku laid her arms around the smaller girl. She felt a little dizzy, and she was sure it was not from the warm water.

But the two girls were plagued by bad luck. They heard the door to the bath creak open and they jumped apart seconds before another guest came in. He eyed them curiously as he went into a tub in a different corner.

"Come, I'll wash your back." Neru sighed with resignation and helped Haku out of the tub.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku had never eaten a dessert like that before. What was it called? Baumkuchen? It was so absurdly delicious that she wanted another serving, but she was a little bit worried about what that cake would do to her figure if she couldn't stop herself after the next piece…

The German restaurant was called Bernard. The name meant "forest spirit" and the dishes were quite exquisite. They had lentil soup as appetizer, then fried potatoes with curd cheese and salad. For dessert, they had a variant of cake called _Baumkuchen_, which was a German specialty.

Luka was wiping her lips with a napkin while Miku watched other people dance. It was not just a simple restaurant. The tables were all in a big circle around a dance floor. Classical music was playing. Miku watched the other people so intently that Luka needed to poke her hand before the green-haired girl turned around.

"What?" Miku had been spacing out.

"Want to dance?" Luka offered casually, and Miku instantly waved her hands. She was not that good of a dancer—not to mention she had never danced to this sort of music before. She knew the basic steps from looking at the others, but…

Luka stood up with a smile and knelt next to Miku's seat. "My lady, may I have this dance?"

The songstress had a smug grin on her face, and a few people were already looking over at them. With Luka kneeling before her and asking for her hand to dance, Miku just couldn't refuse now.

"You demon!" Miku whispered as they slowly walked to the dance floor.

The current song was already coming to an end. The next song was one that Miku knew from a game that Neru played often. "Waltz for the Moon." She had the soundtrack of said game and often listened to this specific track. She knew it by heart.

"I'm the man. I'm taller!" Luka whispered and took position—right hand on Miku's waist, the other holding Miku's right hand. Miku laid her free hand on Luka's shoulder. She had seen the scene for this so often, she knew how it went.

Sidewards stepping, forward and back, both knew exactly how to move. Miku was grinning with malicious joy. Luka had obviously planned to lead her and show off, but she hadn't anticipated that Miku might know this particular dance. Any other song and the songstress would have had her way, but not with this one!

Luka was surprised, but quickly adapted. Going faster, they did the difficult movements perfectly, and Luka really started to enjoy herself. She looked just a little bit down at Miku's face. Would it be bad to kiss her after the dance? Better not go too far…

The song ended and loud applause suddenly came from every corner. Miku looked around, startled, and found that everyone in the room had been watching them. With a fierce blush in her face, Miku felt her hand being taken by Luka. Both of them bowed and gracefully left the dance floor.

There was a waiter waiting at their table. "_Was für ein großartiger mond waltzer! Sehr beeindruckend. Der oberkellner lässt ihnen diese flasche wein als zeichen seiner anerkennung zukommen, werte_ ladies." He spoke in German and Miku didn't understand a word.

"Luka…what did he say?" Miku whispered after Luka took the bottle of wine from the waiter and thanked him. That was the one of the very few German words Miku knew. _Danke_.

"He said he thought you were so beautiful that he wanted you to have this." Luka pointed at the bottle of wine after Miku sat down. It had already been opened. The younger girl seemed very embarrassed all of a sudden.

Luka could barely contain her laughter. After laughing on the inside for nearly a minute, Luka started to giggle and earned a very harsh glare from Miku, who was now sure that Luka had made that up.

"He said we were dancing so magnificently that the chief waiter sent us this bottle of wine. I think. My German is a bit rusty," Luka said and filled their glasses with wine. She was feeling a bit thirsty now from the dance.

"I didn't know you could dance the Moon Waltz this well. Where did you learn it?" Luka lifted her glass and waited for Miku to clink glasses.

Miku averted her eyes and started to mumble. "Video…"

Luka looked confused, leaned forward and repeated her question. "What did you say?"

"I saw the scene countless times in a video game. Satisfied?" Miku snapped and started sulking. It wasn't her fault she didn't have the time or money to learn such things!

Luka started laughing so hard that she nearly spilled her wine. "Really?" she gasped. "That's where _I_ learned it!" Miku was obviously hurt by her outburst of laughter, as she was now looking away from Luka. "Sorry. I just found the coincidence funny."

Miku looked a bit offended, but forgave Luka. After all, it _was_ quite comical to learn a dance from a video game. Taking a sip of wine, Miku remembered the last time she had done this. What kind of tricks did Luka pull every time to get them to serve her wine? That woman was a real succubus.

"Don't drink too much. I don't want to carry you," Luka warned her. This wine was delicious, but also strong. It was nothing like Japanese wine. This was the real deal. She probably shouldn't let Miku have more than one glass.

Luka was gazing around the room when she noticed a familiar face approaching them. Marching directly towards Miku was Gumi, the star of J-Net. Luka sighed. What in the world was Megumi Lyoid doing here? It would be so bothersome if Gumi found out that she was dating Miku. The press would be all over her in a matter of hours.

"I knew it was you!" Gumi was wearing a very fancy green dress that was completed by nice black high heels and an orange scarf. The girl was really simplistic, wearing her trademark colors even here.

Miku only noticed Gumi now and almost knocked over her glass of wine. She had only met the star once before, briefly, when they had exchanged contact addresses. What was _she_ doing here? This was bad…she would get suspicious of Luka now. Why would the songstress be here, eating dinner and dancing with Miku? How could Miku get out of this mess?

When Gumi looked at Miku's escort, her expression changed a bit. "Luka Megurine. Why are _you_ here?" Gumi wasn't too pleased with Luka. She knew that her whole stage act was just that—an act. And she disliked when people deceived their fans.

"Megumi Lyoid. I could ask you the same. We finished working on a song and I invited her here for dinner. Is it so odd, two colleagues celebrating together?"

Luka had the whole thing under control. As long as Miku played along with her story, they could make a clean getaway.

"Don't call me that. So it's true that she's the one saving you after the critics nearly ate you alive? Lucky you." Gumi was always a little bit sarcastic when it came to Luka, but she really had to go on a stretch to be mean. She just wasn't like that.

"What about you? I heard your new single was delayed for unknown reasons. What kind of reason could that be?" Luka felt like having a duel of wits with Gumi. She won most of them, and her bad habit of wanting to impress Miku was edging her to do it.

"It's fascinating how two grown women can turn into twelve-year-olds when it comes to their work," Miku said in an extremely sarcastic tone. She was giving both of them a disappointed glare. This was not how people should behave…especially not adults. Even if they were rivals in the same business.

Miku concentrated her glare on Luka, who averted her eyes, and then on Gumi, who seemed a little embarrassed now.

"I guess it's not really my business who works with you," Gumi said, and turned around to leave. Luka kept silent until Miku kicked her leg under the table. Her look said, _Apologize!_

Taking a deep breath, Luka rolled her eyes and said in a slightly louder voice than normal, "I guess it's none of my business why you took a break either…_Gumi_." Luka usually called Gumi by her real name to piss her off, but now Luka didn't want to risk Miku getting mad.

Gumi turned around once more and eyed Luka suspiciously. "You've…changed. You're a lot more tolerable than you used to be," she said.

Luka gave her such a burning glare that Gumi pretended to hide behind Miku's back. "Ooh, scary." Gumi smiled and stuck out her tongue. She had a mischievous side too.

"Will you two cut it out, please? You're making my head spin." Miku meant that literally. Her vision was a little shaky now. The wine had been even stronger than she'd thought. "But Luka's right, what are you doing here, Gumi? We're here to celebrate, like Luka said." Miku picked up the conversation and hoped the two women would stop attacking each other.

"I'm here with a friend. He came back from a tour and invited me." Gumi pointed at the far corner of the room—the VIP corner. Luka had to look a second time until she recognized the man sitting there.

She gulped. How did Gumi know that guy? He was really famous and had just finished his world tour. "_Gakupo Kamui?_ You're serious? _He_ is your friend?" Luka seemed quite amazed. Kamui was currently one of the world's most famous singers.

"He's a childhood friend of mine. He used to live next door to me," Gumi said. She left her hideout behind Miku, who seemed to stagger dangerously in her chair.

Gumi looked down at Miku. "I think you should take her home," she said to Luka, as she pointed at the empty glass of wine.

Luka bit her lip. Meeting Kamui Gakupo was a rare chance, but she'd have to suck up to Gumi for that. And then there was the problem with Miku. Well, she would have to take her chances and hope to meet him another time. Miku was more important now.

"You're right. I'll, uh, see you around then." Luka awkwardly excused herself and bade Gumi farewell, who returned to her seat to talk about whom she had just met with her friend.

Miku was a little insecure on her legs. To save face, Luka locked arms heavily with Miku and put her other arm around her waist, supporting her. She asked the waiter to send the bill to the inn. Given the respectable name and her looks, the waiter accepted her demand and let them go.

The fresh air hit Luka like a road roller. She was now a little insecure on her own legs, but thankfully Miku had some sense left in her and they both supported each other. It would take a while to reach the inn like this.

"You never mentioned you know Gumi," Luka started a few minutes after they had left.

"I only met her once, briefly," Miku answered. "She was singing for the local kids in my neighborhood." She stopped to take a little rest. Luckily, there was a wall that was perfect to sit on nearby. Sitting down with her lover, Miku leaned against the pink-haired woman.

"What are you thinking?" Miku asked and looked up into the face of the songstress.

"I just wondered if you and Gumi will end up as rivals. You're both the natural, cute type. That is, if you want to keep going with singing. I…would love to work with you." Luka was always a little worried about Miku's career. What if Miku would not be well received in the end? What if the agency abandoned her? Luka felt a little insecure thinking about that scenario. There was a pain in her chest when she thought about working as a songstress without Miku by her side.

"I'll deal with that if I get that far, Luka." Miku smiled and closed her eyes. "Right now, being with you is all I want. And I feel like I can go anywhere as long as you're at my side." The green-haired girl took a deep breath.

Luka patted the younger girl's head and kissed her on the forehead. She was just so cute sometimes.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Meiko had gotten wasted like never before. She had gone way overboard with her drinking and was feeling quite miserable right now. After throwing up for ten minutes straight, there was finally nothing more.

She had never been so thankful for anyone to be at her side before. Kaito had carried her from the bathroom to the bedroom, had gotten her some clean clothes, water and whatever she needed. Meiko felt quite bad for putting him through all that trouble.

"This is your own fault. You should know how much you can drink," Kaito scolded the woman. He sighed. She really had outdone herself.

"I know." Meiko bit her lip. He was actually right. She couldn't blame or fault anyone for this. If someone had told her to stop, she wouldn't have listened.

"You need something else? I put a bucket behind you in case you feel sick again. There's also a bottle of water. " Kaito stood up and tried to think of something else she could need, but he couldn't think of anything.

"I'll sleep in the next room. Get some rest." Kaito was up and about to close the door when Meiko pulled herself up and looked at the guy, a bit concerned. It wasn't fair of her to put him through all this. To accept his help and then ban him to the next room.

"You can sleep here. I don't think you would do anything weird anyway." Meiko felt like throwing up again, but nothing came out and she fell back down on the futon. Her stomach was growling and howling. Grabbing the water bottle, she took a large gulp. The disgusting taste of vomit was still in her mouth.

"I don't think I'd be able to sleep with you in the same room. I don't mind the throwing up, but I'd be too nervous to close an eye." Kaito said things with a straight face that would make others melt with embarrassment.

Meiko almost wanted to blush, but she felt too bad to do so. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess. Probably wasn't a very fun trip for you." Meiko felt just a little repentant after all. Kaito was a nice guy, and she was starting to see that too. His bluntness was still getting on her nerves, though.

"It wasn't so bad. I got to see you naked, had a nice bath, and had some nice food and drinks. And I got to spend some time with you. It's a lot better than my usual weekend," Kaito answered, and knelt down to feel Meiko's forehead. "But you really should rest and drink some more water. You're going to have a terrible hangover tomorrow."

Finally leaving, Kaito left the door open a crack. "If you need something, yell. Good night."

Meiko sighed. The guy was too honest for his own sake. But it was a nice change to know exactly what someone was thinking. No lies, no excuses, just the brutal, bland truth. In one way or another, it wasn't really that bad. Annoying, yes, but also…nice.

Her stomach acted up again and Meiko cursed. She would never drink this much again. Maybe she should lie low just a little bit for the next week. She didn't even want to imagine what her hangover would be like tomorrow.

Thinking of Kaito's words, Meiko grabbed the water bottle and let out a big sigh. She would feel sick now, but at least not tomorrow. Meiko opened and drank the whole bottle, then burped. If that wasn't enough water, she didn't know how much was. But now she couldn't sleep.

"Are you asleep?" Meiko said in a quiet voice. The lights were already out in the next room and she didn't want to get up to check. The water just might come back up. And she had had enough hurling for some time.

"Not yet." Kaito replied, and everything returned to silence. Meiko really didn't have anything to talk about, or at least she couldn't think of anything right now. She was thankful for Kaito, but really, he was a bit of a pain to talk to.

Kaito looked at a certain spot on the wall and said, "I always wondered. Why is your singing not popular? You have a nice voice, you look good. Well, I'd be lying if I said that you have a nice personality, but I still like it."

Meiko could have sworn that he was looking her way. She was a bit annoyed about what he said about her personality, but at least he wasn't pretending to like her for something she wasn't. "I don't know. I could ask you the same. Letting your…personality slide, your voice isn't that bad," Meiko answered and turned around, her back towards the simple sliding door.

"Maybe we're just unlucky. Luka is popular right now, and we're just not fitting in the same genre. But we get by, don't we?" Kaito redirected his gaze to the ceiling. It wasn't that he hated to work in his shop. He liked it enough to put in the effort. He was just curious.

Meiko was not too different. The work in the shop was okay. It had decent pay, free days occasionally, and the boss didn't complain if she got her own booze there as well. But singing was still her greatest pleasure. Next to sake, of course.

The woman felt her eyelids getting heavy. The remaining alcohol was doing its job. Her consciousness slipped away quickly until she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

"Meiko?" Kaito wondered why she wasn't answering. "Must have fallen asleep," he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes. Tomorrow would be another turbulent day. It was never boring with Meiko. It was just one of many reasons why he had a crush on her. And things were finally moving forward. Maybe getting dragged along was really a stroke of luck?

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Luka kicked her shoes off at the entrance of the room. Miku had the decency to put them away, but she felt as tired as Luka. As Japanese, they weren't used to the dry wine of the Germans. Miku had a bit of fierce red in her face, while Luka seemed to be less affected. Maybe she should lay off alcohol for a while, Miku thought.

Miku leaned against a wall, while Luka was in the middle of the room, leaning on the table. Slowly crawling on all fours, Miku went to her partner and hugged her from behind. "Didn't you want to take another bath?" the girl whispered.

They both were tired and a little drunk, so maybe it wasn't the best decision to take a bath now. Luka grabbed Miku's arms and let herself fall to the ground, pulling the surprised girl with her. The floor was not as cold as expected and Luka just stayed like that, lying on her side, quietly watching Miku, who was next to her.

"I wish we could just keep going like this. I don't want to think about working the day after tomorrow…" Luka complained and sighed. She then took Miku's hand and played with her fingers.

"And I'm the hopeless romantic. Talk about glass houses." Miku smiled and teased the older woman a little bit by moving her fingers out of reach once a while. She was feeling a little light-headed from the wine and the walk afterward, but it was nothing big.

"One day you'll going to jail for making a minor drink," Miku said and snickered. She would never tell anyone that Luka had allowed her to drink or lied about her age.

"Are you gonna visit me?" Luka crawled a bit closer. Miku had let her hair down earlier, so she started to play with it. Twirling it around her fingers and letting go, Miku soon imitated her. She couldn't help but ask herself what Luka would look like with other hairstyles. Maybe the same as Haku?

"No. I'll let you rot." Miku stuck out her tongue and earned herself a moping expression from Luka.

She moved closer. Miku was now in Luka's arms, her head lying against the songstress's chest. Miku could hear her heartbeat. It was just like Luka said. Miku too wanted to stay like this. Carefree in a hotel, just spending the day with her lover. But that would become old really quickly. And it wasn't like Miku hated work or school.

The pink-haired woman was still playing with Miku's hair, but her hands slowly moved further and further down, until they were resting on Miku's butt. She didn't seem to mind, and Luka's hands skillfully slid under her dress. She could have sworn that Miku was whispering "Pervert!" under her breath.

Miku moaned just a little bit when Luka touched and then groped her butt. It was a new and weird feeling, but not…unpleasant. She was slowly getting used to Luka's actions.

The songstress had a deep neckline and Miku made use of that. She blew air on Luka's silky skin, and Luka gasped in surprise as chills ran down her spine.

Luka's hands moved up from Miku's butt to her back. Once in a while, she too felt romantic. Her fingers moved gently between her shoulders, making Miku sigh happily. They were lying there just like that, close to each other, not doing much but teasing each other ever so slightly.

"Let's take a bath before I fall asleep in your arms like this," Miku whispered, and felt the resistance of not wanting this happy moment to end in her body.

But Luka pulled her hands back and actually lifted herself up. Miku was on her back now, looking up into two beautiful blue eyes that were passionately looking down at her. Luka leaned down, causing several strands of pink hair to tickle Miku, and gave her lover a short kiss to get her up.

"I am not carrying you," Luka said, and let her dress slide to the ground. After striking a seductive pose, she watched Miku pull herself up and get rid completely of her halfway-removed dress. Just in underwear, the two women made their way to the bathroom. The few steps there were quickly littered with the little clothing they still had on.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Neru was brooding over her review article. There really wasn't too much she could say. The rooms were decent, the bath was nice, and the food good. She really wasn't too skilled with being generous on descriptions. Or with praise for someone else's work, for that matter.

Haku was using Neru's MP3 player and listening to the new album from Supercell, one of Neru's favorite bands. They couldn't help it. It was already dark outside and Neru had to at least start while the impressions were fresh.

She didn't have much yet. She leaned back until she was back-to-back with Haku, who took out the earphones and gave Neru a confused look.

"Not going well?" Haku wanted to help the blond girl in situations such as these, but she wasn't too good with words.

"Not really, no. Bit boring here, so there isn't much to say," Neru complained. She let Haku support her while she stretched. The bones in her elbows cracked, and the girl let out a moan of satisfaction. She always got tense when writing.

"Gimme one." Neru pointed at Haku's left ear and Haku handed over one of the earphones. They occasionally did this at home, too. Since Neru was the only one who had an MP3 player, they could get away without Miku getting suspicious.

They sat quietly, next to each other and listening to music. Neru decided that it was useless to try and come up with something when her attention was focused on Haku and not her work. She looked over at the woman, who was wearing only a bathrobe. Neru remembered the last few hours and blushed a bit. She didn't like just wearing a bathrobe, so she had dressed in some casual and sloppy clothes she had brought exactly for this reason—a wide shirt and some jean shorts. They both had their hair down. Neru was a little jealous of how shiny Haku's hair got after she washed it. Neru only achieved a bland and dim gold, while Haku's really shone like silver.

Haku pulled her legs close to her body and rested her head on her knees. She was tired. Not just from sleeping with Neru before, but also from traveling and from being in an unfamiliar place. She wanted to go to sleep already.

"Neru…I'm tired. It's past midnight." Haku's voice was more like a whisper. She was about to fall asleep. Turning down the volume of the music, the silver-haired woman closed her eyes. Whenever she was alone with Neru, she managed to temporarily let go of her depression. The world seemed like a nicer place.

Neru ruffled her hair and sighed in disappointment. She could still finish the review tomorrow. Now that she thought about it, she was feeling a little tired now. And they had stayed so long in the bath that she had felt dizzy afterward. Neru stood up and grabbed Haku's hand, helping her cousin up.

The day had been eventful. The futons were so close to each other that they were practically one big futon, and Neru was lying so close to Haku that they might have fit in one just fine. It was the same as at home.

The usually depressed woman had already closed her eyes, but was instinctively looking for Neru's hand. She had not once let go of her at night. It was the time of the day she hated the most. At night, her nightmares came to haunt her, to remind her of what a failure she was. The few rare occasions when Haku had to sleep alone were hell for her. She often woke up crying and cowering under her blanket. She hated it. If Neru were with her, the nightmares weren't so bad. Her presence was a charm that kept Haku's fears under control.

Grabbing the older woman's hand, Neru too closed her eyes. She didn't have to look for what she was about to do.

Moving closer for a bit, Neru gave the woman a goodnight kiss. "I love you, Haku." Neru told her every day, and it still made the silver-haired woman visibly happy.

"I love you too, Neru," Haku whispered and slowly drifted away to sleep. As long as Neru was with her, the nightmares wouldn't come. Or if they came, at least her lover was there to comfort her.

Neru took a few minutes and waited for Haku to completely fall asleep before she let herself drift away. Her dreams were often plain and she couldn't remember them. But there was one that was always very real and vivid. It was more a memory than a dream.

_Haku's reputation had just started to go downhill. She was getting more and more depressed, and everyone knew it was only a matter of time until her career was at an end before it had even started. Neru hadn't had much to do with Haku at the time. She had moved out of her mother's house early on, at sixteen years old. Her mother was a beast who had divorced Neru's father not long after Neru was born._

_Neru hated her mother. It seemed so unreal to her that she could be such a monster when her mother's sister was so gentle a woman. Her daughter, Haku, was Neru's cousin. Neru envied her. After she moved out, Neru was already following the events around Haku. Calling Haku one day, Neru asked her if she wanted to meet a cousin she had never seen before._

_Haku, at the time happy for anyone that cared about her, went to see Neru. They met for just a bit, and Neru found the easily depressed and somehow meek woman to be oddly captivating. She never felt the urge to tease her, as she did with everyone else. It was mysterious._

_They met again a few times, and Haku gradually started to trust Neru. By the time Haku was fired and had nowhere to go, Neru had already taken her in._

_A long time passed before they found out the truth. It was true that they both had the same great-grandparents. But things between Neru and Haku were more complicated than that. It was a letter that Haku got from her mother one day that told them of the truth. Her mother said that she wanted to tell Haku, since she was living with Neru now._

_Haku was shocked at first. But it explained why she had looked nothing like her parents. Haku had been given up for adoption before she could even walk. Her mother's sister had adopted her, and her name became Yowane._

_Haku's biological mother married and had another child—Neru. Legally Neru and Haku were cousins, but they were actually half-sisters. They had the same horrible mother, but different fathers. Nobody remembered even the face of Haku's biological father. But that didn't matter for Haku. Her father was the man that she had known as her father all her life._

_Haku had never been told that she was adopted. The truth hurt her badly and it took her a long time to show Neru the letter._

_Neru was more angry than shocked. She had never liked her own mother, and this only made it worse. To think that she had divorced twice and she just gave Haku away. _

_But at that time, it only got them closer together. Neru was now aware why she was so fascinated by Haku. She was Neru's sister. Only her half-sister, but still, the closest relative she had now. But her feelings slowly changed. Neru knew it was wrong to feel about her older sister like that, but she was gradually falling in love with her. It took all her courage to finally confess her feelings after she could no longer ignore them._

_Haku had been surprised, but not scared. She liked Neru for all she had done for her. Taken her in, helped her with her depression. And even though she was her sister, Haku just felt different about her. They didn't have the moral barriers that usually existed between siblings. Haku was happy to hear that someone loved her for what she was. She accepted Neru's feelings, and they became lovers._

_A forbidden relationship between blood-related sisters. They could never tell anyone. Nobody would understand just how important they were to each other. So they hid their love from everyone around them and continued to be together in secret. They didn't even want to imagine what would happen if someone found out._

Neru woke up, sweating and breathing heavily. She looked to her side. In the room's darkness, she could see her older sister quietly sleeping. It still felt a little bit weird to call her sister, even in her thoughts.

Neru leaned over the woman and whispered, "I love you, Onee-chan." She rarely did this, and they never called each other sisters if they weren't sure that nobody could hear them. And even then…they knew it was wrong for them to be in love. Not just that it was love between two women, but also between siblings.

Lying down, Neru found herself unable to sleep. Sometimes, she asked herself if she would still love Haku if they weren't sisters. The answer to that was always the same. It didn't matter who Haku was, Neru loved her for what she was. Not for the blood flowing in her veins.

Haku started to move, afraid of something. Neru knew just too well what it was. Another nightmare plagued her. If only Neru could do something to make those terrible memories go away.

_She had just graduated from college when an agency scouted her. It was a small company that was just using Haku for a promotional experiment as it later turned out. The girl had been fascinated by singing and wanted to become a songstress. She recorded a few songs, and even had a single live performance. But in the end, she had not been picked for talent or skills. Haku was just a guinea pig for a company testing a new model of PR._

_The live performance was a traumatizing experience. Soon after Haku excitedly starting singing, people starting booing, one after another. Trying not to let it get to her, Haku continued. She didn't even get to finish a single song. People started to riot, leaving and throwing empty cans at her. Haku was left cowering in a corner of the stage in an empty hall, crying and sobbing. The company nearly vanished overnight and Haku was left unemployed, depressed and with a track record of a failed songstress. It was only thanks to Neru, who took her in a little while before the live performance, that she didn't have to sleep on the street._

_She couldn't find a job for some time, which made her depression worse to the point where she started drowning herself in alcohol. Neru and Miku, her cousins, tried to get her away from her addiction, and though they got stricter in time, Haku never managed to get over her depression._

Tears flowing from her eyes and sobbing uncontrollably, Haku woke up and found herself already embraced by her younger sister. She didn't need to say anything. It was obvious to Neru which dream she'd had just now. It took both women some time to finally fall asleep again. But this time, it was a deep and dreamless sleep.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku was still breathing heavily, so she backed off from Luka a bit. Making love in the hot water had gone to her head. She was feeling dizzy and light-headed, but it still had been an amazing experience. Luka was the same—gasping for air, her chest heaving quickly. Miku was a quick learner, that much Luka knew by now. She still remembered the touch of Miku's fingers.

With red faces and red skin from the continued exposure to hot water, they both left the tub and grabbed their towels. They opened the window in the main room so the cold night air streamed in and cooled their hot bodies and minds.

Luka rummaged through the little bar in the room and pulled a rather suspicious bottle with a dark red liquid out. "Don't worry. It's just some iced tea. I have to drive tomorrow," Luka said and smiled. She looked for two cups, but didn't find any.

"At least we only used our fingers and not tongues." Luka opened the bottle and took a large gulp, burping after she finished and handed the bottle to Miku.

"Way to kill any remaining romantic mood," Miku complained, but she took the bottle and gulped down its contents. She burped too, but not without covering her mouth with her hand. Now that the arousal and adrenaline was slowly fading away, Miku felt her body demanding sleep.

A look at the clock and Miku nearly spat out the iced tea. It was past two in the morning. They had to be ready to check out at ten. Miku sighed. That probably wasn't going to be a very relaxing Sunday. But well, so far it had been an amazing weekend.

"Let's go to sleep, Luka. And no more groping. I think I'm going to get marks from your nails anyway!" Miku said, and took another gulp. She pulled a shirt from her bag and got ready for bed. She still had to brush her teeth, but going back into the bathroom seemed kinda…

"I'm going to cut them before next time. But you're one to complain!" Luka pulled her hair to the side and turned around, pointing at several love bites on her neck. "I won't be able to put my hair up for a while. If anyone sees those…" Luka sighed. After exchanging looks, both of them started to laugh. It was kind of funny.

Miku gave the bottle back and took her toothbrush and toothpaste from her bag. She always came prepared. Luka made a shocked face. Was is that unusual to bring your own toothbrush? Miku was a bit worried about Luka's common sense.

"I forgot mine. You mind me using yours?" Luka made a pleading gesture. She usually wasn't that forgetful.

Miku didn't mind. Considering how much they had kissed alone in the last day, it really made no difference. "I'll go first, if you don't mind," Miku said and vanished in the bathroom.

Luka picked up Miku's towel and made sure that the girl was brushing her teeth and not paying attention before she sniffed the wet towel. It smelled exactly like Miku. She was developing a fetish for things with her smell. First Miku's pillow, and now the towel…

Luka put on some underwear and looked for a shirt of her own. She just couldn't find one, while she was sure that she had packed one. Instead, she found a white chemise. Well, it was good enough. Using only the bottom two buttons, Luka walked over to the bathroom, just to bump into Miku.

"I left the brush at the sink. Nice chemise," Miku said, and smiled. She left with a yawn for the futon room.

Luka brushed her teeth in silence. She had never expected things to be this nice. Were all relationships like this? She really was lucky to have a nice, down-to-earth girl like Miku as her girlfriend. It would bring problems in the future, that was for sure, but she would cross that bridge when they reached it.

Miku was already in the futon when Luka came into the side room. She had placed her own futon a bit away from Luka's.

"I promise I won't do anything," Luka said, sighing heavily.

"I'm gonna give you a big purple hickey on your forehead if you do," Miku threatened and watched Luka move her futon right next to hers before turning out the lights. It didn't take a minute for the older woman to snuggle up to her and take the same position as they did when they slept at Luka's place—the pink-haired woman hugging the green-haired girl from behind.

"Thanks," Miku said after the two of them had remained in the dark room without words for a while, just calmly lying next to each other.

"What's this all of a sudden?" Luka was curious for what exactly Miku was thanking her. There were a whole lot of choices right now.

"I just hadn't said thanks yet. For taking me on the trip and to that restaurant. And most of all, you actually acted like a decent person for a whole day. That must've been hard on you," Miku said and had problems suppressing her laughter. She really was thankful, but she had to tease Luka a little in the end. Luka's bad nature had actually rubbed off on her.

"Yeah, it was terrible. Thank God I can go back to being the same old heartless monster I always am, right?" Luka put some emphasis on the last part by playfully biting Miku in her shoulder. "Rah! I'll eat you!"

Miku rolled her eyes but played along, purposely acting like a victim and putting on an extremely bored voice. "Someone, help. Oh no, I am getting eaten alive. Oh no," Miku said, and watched Luka stop and lean over her, looking in her eyes.

"Your acting sucks. You need to work on that if you want to make it anywhere in the business." Luka poked Miku's forehead with her index finger and shrugged. "You should take me as example!"

She showed off and showed first a sad, then a happy and then an angry face, including false tears of rage, laughter and sadness. It was obviously too dark for Miku to see much, but she could easily guess what kind of face Luka was making.

"The born diva, aren't you." Miku snorted, but she could no longer hold it in. Starting to laugh to her heart's content, Luka soon followed her and started laughing just as loudly after a quick moment of sulking.

Going back to a pleasant silence, Miku lay there, her eyes closed and nicely snuggled up to Luka. She was almost asleep when Luka called her name with a whisper. Miku ignored her in hopes that she would just give up and go to sleep. But instead, the pink-haired woman started whispering in her ear.

"_You want to wear black stockings, you want to wear black stockings, you want_—" Luka repeated the same line over and over.

"Pervert," Miku said, loud and in a very cold tone before moving away a little bit.

Luka tried to grab her but got a death glare from Miku and sighed, deciding instead going to sleep. Her plan had failed. Hopefully Miku wasn't going to be angry the next day.

The younger girl rolled her eyes and sighed. She would end up awake in the arms of the woman next to her anyway. Waiting a few minutes until her bad mood had mostly given way to the more positive feelings she carried, Miku crawled back to Luka, who almost instinctively embraced her, already asleep.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku was boiling in her seat, and a somewhat annoyed and confused Luka was driving the car. The whole morning had been a catastrophe. It all started with waking up, which was harmless enough—despite the fact that Luka had both her arms shoved under Miku's shirt and was quite shamelessly groping the girl in her sleep.

The next thing Miku remembered was going to the bathroom to brush her teeth and something itching on her neck. She finally realized what was itching when she combed her hair. Luka had, one way or another, left her an enormous hickey on the left side of her neck. It was so big that anyone from five meters distance could see it.

After waking Luka up (quite violently so), the pink-haired woman was just as surprised as Miku at the love bite. "I've heard of sleep walking…but sleep biting?" Luka tried to make an intelligent face, but quickly dropped it when she felt that Miku was really angry.

"You don't really expect me to run around like this, do you? What about school? They'll ask me where the hell I got a love bite this size!" Miku was giving Luka a hazardous glare, her hair only half done and not quite dressed yet.

"Nothing I can do about it! It's a bit warm to wear a scarf now…I could try to conceal it with makeup, but that'll be difficult. And I don't have any with me now. Just keep your hair down and it'll be hard to see unless someone knows it's there." Luka tried to somehow ease up the rather explosive mood in the room. Her timing really was the worst. She had slept with Miku in the same bed often and had never bitten her in her sleep before.

The checkout at least went over easily. Miku kept a safe distance from everyone but Luka and paid a bit too much attention to her hair, which drew a few gazes. After loading their luggage into Luka's car, Miku sat down in the passenger seat and looked out the window, still angry.

Luka didn't know what to say. The trip was nice, but the ending—somehow not so much. Well, maybe Miku would cool down by the time they were back home.

They were on the road for nearly half an hour when the silence between them got a bit too much. God had mercy on them and let Luka's cell phone ring.

Miku picked it up on instinct since the woman was driving, and given the way they came here, Miku didn't want to risk another roller coaster trip. "Yes?" Miku just assumed that whoever knew this number must also know that she was with Luka.

It was Erico. He talked a bit, and Miku's mood went from better to confused to tired to normal in a matter of minutes. When Miku finally closed the cell and put it back in the little box in the middle of the car, Luka gave her a surprised look.

"I can already guess who it was. What did he say?" Luka asked, and was so thankful that Miku seemed to have forgotten her bad mood. At least temporarily.

"Erico. There was a producers' meeting yesterday evening and even though he says he doesn't know how it happened, they want us to make a PV for 'Magnet.' I bet he got them all drunk in a bar and talked them into this." Miku sighed and shrugged.

After a short moment of silence, Miku grabbed Luka's hand on the clutch. "Don't you dare think I simply forgot about the hickey. But I guess I've been angry long enough now."

Luka knew too well that Miku wouldn't just forget this, but at least she wasn't unreasonable when it came to such things. Whenever Luka did something stupid, it was usually enough to take Miku out somewhere fun to make it even. This time was probably no different.

It was a very warm day and the sky was nice and clear, so Luka opened up the windows as soon as they left the highway. The wind felt nice on their skin and Luka resented that she had to work the next day. Life as an idol was sometimes a lot harder than she liked.

When they were talking about the producers' decision to make yet another PV, time seemed to fly. Before they knew it, Luka took the turn for Tokyo and from there on, it was silent again. Tokyo's streets were stressful even for Luka and Miku usually kept quiet and read or simply listened to music when they drove somewhere through the city.

Parking and letting out a huge sigh because of the terrible city traffic, Luka let go of the wheel and leaned back in her seat. She often got a slight headache when driving through the city, mostly because there were so many careless drivers around. But whenever she complained about that, Miku cut in and told her she didn't want to hear that from _her_.

It seemed like Neru and Haku weren't at home yet as everything seemed normal and nothing was burning, but the Kagamine twins were outside and sitting on the wall, enjoying the nice weather. While Len was reading, a typical scene and something that would look odd if Rin did it, his sister was lying lazily around while listening to music on an iPod.

They waved when they saw Luka and Miku coming out of the car. It took barely a minute and Rin was already next to Miku, asking her about the trip—especially about any _juicy_ details. Miku always thought that the girl thought way, _way_ too much about adult stuff for her age. According to Len, she had a big stash of ero-doujinshi too.

Luka didn't even bother getting her own luggage out of the car and helped Miku carry hers instead. When Miku let herself into her apartment, Rin simply followed the couple inside, leaving Len behind outside.

After Miku vanished in the bathroom and Luka sat down in the living room, Rin smiled at her with a big, diabolical grin. "So, how was it? Did you seduce her?"

Luka felt a bit annoyed at how blunt that girl was. Rin reminded her of Kaito. But Luka could tease her a bit. "What, you're interested?"

Luka had not talked to the girl before. She had only seen her once, but it seemed like the Kagamine twin was all but impressed by talking to Luka Megurine, the idol. It was almost annoying how casual she was.

"My neighbor, a lesbian who's sleeping with Luka Megurine? Who wouldn't be interested?" Rin sat down and helped herself to some of the leftover cookies on the table. The girl's manners were non-existent, Luka thought to herself.

"You have an awfully big mouth for your age." Luka started to smile the same diabolical grin as Rin as she talked. "I don't know about telling some little girl about our…_adult _relationship." Luka put a thick, heavy emphasis on the word "adult." So much that she said it letter-for-letter again.

"Tsk, you probably haven't even gotten to first base yet if you're talking like that." Rin waved Luka's words away with a sarcastic smile and saw the desired effect kick in. Luka was getting annoyed.

"Oh, you think so, huh? Well, let me tell you that—" Luka twitched when someone hit her on the head. Rin got the same treatment just a split second later. Miku had come out of the bathroom and found Rin going after her favorite hobby—trolling people. She was like a little Neru that concentrated on real life instead of the Internet.

"No trolling in my house! I told you that." Then Miku bowed down and whispered something in Rin's ear, which caused the girl to grit her teeth and look at Miku with a forced smile. Luka didn't know what she had just told the blond girl, but it couldn't be something nice.

Len knocked on the door, which they had evidently left open, and Luka noticed for the first time that the two really were polar opposites. Rin, barefoot, in a simple midriff-baring top and a short skirt, was the wild one. Len, with his more refined look, sneakers, khakis, and white t-shirt was clearly the quiet one. Luka instantly thought of some anime with gender-bending but couldn't remember the name.

"Welcome back, Miku." Len carefully closed the door behind him and exchanged looks with his sister. The girl sighed and shrugged. Maybe she would just go back to being lazy outside and get a bit of a tan. Now that Len was there, things would get boring anyway.

"Later." Rin waved and got up and passed Len, not without accidentally stepping on his feet, and left the door open behind her. She was the very definition of a tomboy.

"Is your sister always like that?" Luka was a bit astonished at just how bad someone's manners could be.

"She's always like that when she meets someone new. And when she's around Miku." Len knew that if he said anything more than that, his sister would lynch him. It was top secret that Rin had a little crush on Miku, and he was well aware that he was in for some….unspeakable things if he blurted that fact out.

"She'll calm down soon. She's not that bad once you know her better," Len said and started to sweat. That wasn't exactly true, but at least she was bearable when she was in a good mood. That wasn't that rare, but it often happened to be when no one was around or when she was teasing people.

Miku sat down and took the last cookie. It was as hard as stone. How in the world had Rin eaten those? She threw it back into the bowl on the table, suddenly feeling incredibly lazy. Well, that was kinda normal after a trip, but it was a nuisance anyway.

Len was a bit nervous. It was the first time he had been over at Miku's place since Luka Megurine started showing up there. He was a big fan and admired her a lot. But his image of her wavered a bit when the woman was, in real life, nothing like the woman on TV.

"I wonder when Neru and Haku are coming back," Miku wondered and started to think about what she should do for dinner.

"I think my sister is hanging out with Neru a bit too much. Lately, she's been giggling and smiling a lot when she browses the net." Len knew well what that meant. Rin's mood was almost exclusively determined whether or not she could troll people.

"I heard you two are in a music school. What instruments do you play?" Luka took this opportunity to learn a bit about Miku's friends. She didn't really know any of them well, and if her relationship with Miku was going to be a long one, she should change that.

"I play the bass guitar. Rin is learning the drums. We're both majoring in singing, though." Len didn't want to admit that he was not that good at playing bass yet and that Rin was an acoustics catastrophe when she was practicing.

Miku stepped in, remembering something. "Didn't Rin used to play the keyboard?"

"She changed to drums after seeing this new anime…what's it called…uh…K-something. She _really_ likes the character that plays the drums." Len wasn't too big on anime. He preferred to read and watch the _Kamen Rider Sentai _series.

Miku only watched anime very sparingly, and didn't know which one Len was talking about. The answer came, unexpectedly, from Luka.

"_K-On_? I heard it has really good ratings but I found it rather boring." The songstress had only seen one episode but was constantly reminded of the good sales the anime made due to her working in a not-so-different business.

"That's the one. She's recording every episode. She even has a big poster of it on the wall above her bed." Len wasn't sharing a bedroom with his sister anymore, but he still had to go in there to get her for school and a few other occasions when they had an appointment somewhere.

Someone outside was shouting. "Len! I'm hungry."

That was, quite unmistakably, Rin's voice. It was barely three in the afternoon, so it was early for dinner. They had traded lunch for some popsicles because it was such nice weather. Well, he could make some sandwiches.

In a way, Miku could relate pretty well to Len's situation. Trade Rin for Neru and it was mostly the same. Sometimes, Miku wondered if Neru and Rin had the same ancestors because they were so alike.

"I'd better go before Rin…well, you know." Len rolled his eyes, sighed, and left, leaving the couple alone in Miku's apartment.

"Poor guy. But he'll surely grow up to be handsome," Luka said, and evaded Miku's questioning look. "Don't worry, I'm not into shota!" Luka said and was a little worried that Miku seemed to know very well what that term meant.

"Should we check in with the guys at the studio? They must be going through hell with us gone." Luka smiled and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. It seemed to natural to be with Miku already. Like it was an obviously right thing.

"Yeah, why not. I'll just fall asleep if I stay like this. Let's go to the park first. I kinda want to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts," Miku said and pulled herself up to go to her room to change. When she picked up her hair ties, she remembered the embarrassing hickey. Thank God Rin hadn't seen it!

She took a box of band-aids from her drawer and just put a large one over the hickey. She would simply say that a cat scratched her, or she had cut herself with her nails while doing her hair. Something like that. It was silly to be endlessly mad at Luka for something she didn't consciously do.

The songstress was already outside, leaning on the guard rail and enjoying the ever-so-slight breeze of wind when Miku showed up.

"You're okay like that? You don't want to change?" Miku was not sure if it was such a nice idea to wear the same clothes she had worn all day to work.

"It's fine. I even hope they smell a bit, so they don't let me work today," Luka said with the most relaxed expression ever.

Miku laughed and shook her head. Luka would never change. But that was a good thing.

~~~ End of Chapter IV ~~~


	5. Montblanc and Bad Apple

A/N: I have finished Lss 4 and I am working on HmS 6 right now. I am a little busy with IRL work so please be patient.

**Hear My Song!**

**Chapter V**

_Montblanc and Bad Apple_

How should she tell the girl? It hadn't been her decision. The company wanted to concentrate more on their star, and despite her local popularity, she just wasn't bringing in the sales they wanted. As far as Japan went, she was really well known and the sales weren't bad, but Luka was selling just as much and Krypton had recently picked up a girl who was making huge progress and who targeted the same market group as her client.

The middle-aged woman opened the door to Gumi's room and adjusted her sunglasses. She was greeted by a smile, but she could tell that the girl had to force to do it. Not even she could keep up her mood when the board of directors was discussing her future.

Sighing heavily, her manager stood next to Gumi and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, dear. They decided to axe you down and concentrate on Gakupo from now on. At the end of the month, they want you to have packed your things. There was nothing I could do. They said you weren't selling enough."

She had only worked with Gumi for a few months, but she still felt sorry for her. It was weird that her sales were so low. She ranked neck-to-neck with Luka Megurine in popularity charts, but her sales weren't anywhere up to par with hers.

And then that new girl from Krypton. Hatsune, was it? She had been the final nail for Gumi.

"Eh…?" Gumi could feel a tear running down her cheek. She was really fired? They got rid of her just like that?

"I have an appointment with another client." The manager looked at her wrist watch and left, not even looking back.

The door slammed shut and a crying Gumi was left behind.

She didn't know how long she stayed like that. When she finally calmed down and packed her few things, there was almost no one left in the building. They had all gone home already. Gumi really wished she could've talked with someone.

She flipped open her cellphone; she had no new mails. Gumi didn't feel like going home. It had been a while, but maybe she could call her sister…

Gumi quickly typed the number. She'd had it memorized since long ago. The phone beeped a few times before someone picked up. "Yes?" It was nearly accent-free English.

"Onee-chan… " Gumi's voice was still shaking and she suddenly felt like crying again. The background noise that came through the phone sounded like a party or something similar.

"Gumi, is that you?" After someone with a very loud voice seemed to shout in the background, the woman shouted back. "Shut up, George, I'm on the phone! I said _shut up_. What is it?"

After a second of silence, Gumi was too intimidated to say something, the woman on the phone continued talking. "Please call back later. I'm recording a video." The phone clicked and returned only beeping sounds.

Gumi stared at the display as it signaled that the line was disconnected now. She flipped the phone closed and left the building, hanging her head. Not even her sister had time for her when she really needed someone to talk to.

She didn't even make it a hundred meters before her phone rang. Her sister's number was displayed. Gumi answered the call immediately.

"I'm sorry, Gumi, but I'm going through hell right now. They messed up the setting for the promotional video and now we have to redo the whole thing."

The the familiar voice was shouting again. "Sonika, move your pretty ass over here! You can answer your goddamn calls in your break time!"

"I told you to _shut up_, George. If my sister calls me, I _will_ answer the phone. Is that clear?" Sonika shouted back.

"Sonika-nee, they fired me from the agency," Gumi said and broke out into silent tears. She had reached the parking lot behind the building now.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Gumi. I wish I—" There was suddenly a lot of noise and she could hear people shouting and arguing and the line was disconnected again. Gumi tried to call the phone, but the power was off now.

Gumi didn't know what to do. If she went home, there was nobody waiting for her.

So she simply wandered around. Her steps slowly led her to the park where she had sung for the local kids not so long ago. She sat down on a swing and moved back and forth. What should she do now?

She didn't even notice that a local kid had recognized her and came closer. "You're that girl who sang for me and my friends!" He was right in front of her and Gumi rubbed her eyes, forcing a smile for the little guy.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

"I'm just a little sad." Gumi didn't want to burden a little child with her worries.

The boy looked a bit confused but was quickly called by his mother, who stood at the border of the little park. "Bye-bye, Onee-chan! Thank you for the other time. Cheer up!" He waved and smiled.

The sun had already gone down when she finally realized she was still there. Gumi had been so spaced out that she had forgotten the time. Her eyes were red and burning. Her mouth was dry and she felt miserable. And even now, there was only the empty apartment waiting for her. She pulled out her cell phone and tried to call Sonika again. It was no use, the power was still off.

Staring at the ground, she lost track of time again. She remembered the first time she had been on stage. The first single she recorded. How nervous she was. And just how much the smiles on her fans' faces were worth all the hard work.

But she was not all alone.

Someone laid a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she could see the girl she'd met in this park before. The girl who had been with Luka in that restaurant. Miku…

"What's wrong, Gumi?" Miku felt a little weird about talking to Gumi so casually. But she had already met Gumi twice before and she seemed really lost and alone at the moment.

Those three words were all that she wanted. It had been half a day since she was told she was no longer working as a songstress until someone had said those three words. Gumi stood up and buried her face in Miku's chest as she started to cry again. Her tears were not silent like before, but loud and emotional.

Miku was surprised—not only at Gumi's behavior, but also at her own. Before she knew it, she had already laid her arms around the only slightly-smaller girl and was rubbing her back. She was still crying when Luka came over to see what was going on.

The two had just come back from shopping. Luka was disguised in order to not cause an uproar. She was carrying two big white plastic bags of food.

"What did you do to make her cry like that, Miku?" Luka asked, and earned a pretty powerful glare from Miku.

Luka had hit a bad nerve. Her foul mouth had gotten the better of her. She knew that Miku was really touchy when it concerned people crying. With a cousin like Haku, that was somehow understandable. And yet Luka still had to open her big mouth! Deciding to wait at the exit of the park, Luka shot Miku an apologetic look and walked off.

It took five more minutes before Gumi finally stopped crying and Miku had calmed her down. But she did not say a word about what had happened. Physically, she seemed to be fine. Luka probably wouldn't like it, but Miku couldn't just leave Gumi here.

Taking the green-haired girl's hand, Miku dragged her along and joined up with Luka at the exit. The pink-haired woman knew better than to open her mouth again and decided to ask Miku what exactly had happened later on. They had just been walking by when Miku saw the girl sitting on the swings all alone and decided to check on her.

It wasn't far to Miku's place. Neru and Haku were out and probably wouldn't be back for a while. Neru had won some all-you-can-eat coupons for a Korean barbecue.

Luka was in the kitchen, putting the food in the fridge and on the shelves while Miku tended to Gumi. She finally opened her mouth to talk, but seemed to be near tears again.

"They fired me," Gumi said and stared at the floor.

Miku was smart enough to not ask "who?" in this situation and knew Luka would have probably blurted it out. Gumi was an idol, so if she were fired…well, it would explain her breakdown in the park. If Luka were suddenly fired, she would probably react in a similar way…only with lots of violence and fire.

"Why did they do that?" It was probably for the best for Gumi to talk about it. The usually upbeat girl seemed really depressed.

"My…my songs aren't selling so well." Gumi felt a little better already, seeing that Miku actually cared about her—something people had not done the whole day.

"That's surprising to hear. Your singles are always at the top of the charts," Miku said, and offered Gumi some of the cookies on the table. Thank God she had replaced the nearly iron-like cookies with new ones just a few hours ago.

Munching on a big cookie, Gumi let her shoulders sink. "I don't know why. They didn't explain anything to me. They just said I need to have my things out of there before the end of the week." Gumi took another cookie.

"They must be stupid. Who am I gonna fight with for the top of the charts now? What are you gonna do now?" Luka had returned to the living room. Miku gave her a questioning look and Luka sighed, kneeling down next to Gumi.

"Listen, Megumi." It seemed to have the desired effect. Gumi looked at her former rival. "You have talent. You're nice, cute, and you can sing. Well, basically you're just like Miku over here, but you have more experience and you aren't quite as lazy as—ouch!" Miku had punched Luka on the shoulder.

"That last bit was unnecessary. And I don't want to hear about any faults from _you_, anyway!" Miku said, glaring at Luka.

Luka responded by glaring back. But she'd won. Gumi had a tiny little smile on her lips.

"Thank you, Luka. I didn't think you'd care. I thought you'd gloat and laugh at me," Gumi said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Luka is right. Well, partially. You're cute and you have talent. And you're really, really nice to your fans. I think they'd want you to somehow continue…hey, Lukaaaa." Miku looked at her lover with a very smug grin.

Luka stood up and retreated a few steps. "No. No, no, no! I know exactly what you're doing. No!" Luka said, and retreated even further, back into the kitchen.

"I am sure you could work at Luka's agency. If they had you both, they would simply dominate the national charts. Your old agency was stupid to fire you, they'll see." Miku said this with full knowledge that Luka would probably rather eat nails than ask her boss to let Gumi work there.

"But wouldn't that cause problems for you, Miku? I think my manager once said you're my rival or something…" Gumi felt much better now, but was a bit worried. She didn't want to cause Miku problems after she was so nice to her.

"I'm not even really working with them. I signed up for a few promo videos and songs, but that's as far as it goes. I think you would be happy to work there. The people are really nice." Miku tried to encourage the green-haired girl and it seemed to work.

"You really think so? I…don't know what to say. I'm so happy. Thank you, Miku!" Gumi leaned forward to hug Miku, but she hadn't noticed her legs had fallen asleep. With more or less a lot of force, she hit the floor with her face.

She made a loud bumping sound and Luka poked out her head from the kitchen to see what had happened. Gumi was holding her nose and leaning over, Miku patting her back.

Maybe Miku had rubbed off on her. Luka felt for her and dropped an ice bag on her head, which Miku took and put on Gumi's nose.

"Luka really does hate me, doesn't she?" Gumi said, almost weeping from the pain.

"It's her way of showing that she's concerned. I think they call that _tsundere_. Well, or just crazy…" Miku whispered the last part and Gumi smiled.

"She really knows her way around your place. It's really late, too. Are you two working on a song again?" Gumi was a little curious now. Miku didn't seem to mind Luka moving around her apartment so freely at all.

"Something like that. Are you feeling better?" Miku wasn't sure how the girl really felt, but Gumi at least had gotten her smile back for now. It probably wouldn't be easy to get Krypton to take her under contract, though. She really needed Luka to talk to her supervisors for that.

And then there was her own work, too. She really didn't actually have the time to worry about others like this. But Gumi was…well, she just couldn't leave her alone.

"I'm really feeling better. Thank you." Gumi put the ice bag aside, her nose still red and a little dented. "I hope we can be friends." Gumi smiled happily, and Miku knew she couldn't refuse such a request. It was a little bit dangerous to befriend Gumi, since she knew Luka apparently well enough to get curious about their relationship if she got too close.

But in the end…even if she found out…Gumi was probably not the type to run to the media with photos of them kissing.

It was almost ten in the evening and it was pitch black outside. Miku really didn't want to send Gumi back home like this. She was worried that someone would recognize her and do something stupid.

"If you want, you can sleep in my room tonight. You'd need to share the guest futon with Luka, though."

Miku didn't know which scared the girl more—the thought of imposing any further, or actually spending a night in the same bed as Luka, who had a bit of a reputation.

"I'll drive you home, Gumi. I need to get home anyway. It's kinda late. I'll show up early tomorrow, Miku. We need to finish working on that song." Luka twirled her keys around her finger and waited for Gumi to get up, all the while giving Miku a questioning look. What was the girl thinking, offering for Gumi to stay the night? She would notice one hundred percent that there was something going on between Luka and Miku.

Gumi fawned a bit over Luka's car and then sat down in the passenger seat. Luka sighed and scratched her neck before sitting down herself. Before she turned on the car, she leaned on the seat and looked at the girl next to her. Luka still felt a bit of pity for Gumi and decided to help her out at least a little.

"I'll talk to my manager and the president and put in a good word for you. It's up to you after that. The music business isn't a nice place, after all." She had the feeling that Miku would have forced her to do it anyway.

"I think I know why Miku likes you," Gumi said in a casual tone and grinned. Luka wasn't such a bad person after all. Or maybe it was Miku who'd changed her?

Luka turned her head so quickly in shock that she hurt her neck. "We…we're only colleagues!" Luka said, and seemed to sweat. At least it was dark and there was no way Gumi could have seen that.

"I know. But you two really get along. You're good friends, aren't you?" Gumi seemed a little confused by Luka's reaction.

So _that's_ what she meant…Luka had thought her heart would stop beating if Gumi had already found out.

"Where do you live?" Luka asked and plugged in a little navigational device to help her find the street. It turned out that Gumi lived a whole lot closer than she'd thought. The apartment building was right next to her own. It was a lot smaller than her place, and pretty cheap.

The first few minutes of the night's drive were in complete silence. "Do you really want to work at Krypton? Or are you just looking for a way to continue singing?" Luka was a little curious now.

"I really just want to sing and make people happy with my songs. What about you, Luka? Why do you sing?" Gumi asked, and looked at the pink-haired woman next to her. She was a bit older, but it really didn't feel like that at all.

"I don't really know. I like singing too, but that alone wasn't the reason I started," Luka answered in a dry tone and it went quiet again. After a few minutes, they came to a stop at a red light.

"I really liked your songs 'Coward Montblanc' and 'The Last Revolver,'" Luka suddenly said. "I listen to them often. But don't you dare tell that to Miku. I will make you a head shorter."

Gumi blushed a little at hearing that the elitist songstress Luka Megurine liked her songs and even listened to them on occasion. "Thanks. I really loved your 'Luka Luka Night Fever.' I think it really fits you."

Luka was surprised to hear that and stared at Gumi for a few seconds in disbelief. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

Miku, back at home, was sitting over her homework. She had carelessly neglected her homework lately, and her grades would suffer if she kept this up. Maybe she would just concentrate on school and singing from now on. With Luka paying part of her living expenses, she could do that.

Speaking of Luka…Miku looked at the clock. It was way past twelve now and Luka had been gone for two hours already. A little worried (more about Gumi than Luka), she tried calling Luka's cell phone. It was turned off, so she tried Gumi's phone next. It rang, at least.

"Yesh? Whosh ther'?" A very drunk and babbling Luka answered Gumi's phone. Miku could make out from the background noise that she was in some sort of disco and had been drinking.

The phone made a crackling noise and Gumi answered next. "Night fever, _yeeeah!_" she shouted. The line disconnected.

Miku stared at the cell phone, put it slowly away, stood up, and stripped down to her underwear. She was going to bed. She already knew how this would end.

But she just couldn't fall asleep. What _was_ that woman thinking? Miku punched the wall and regretted it immediately. She got up to get that ice bag for her hand.

Luka had just ordered the next set of cocktails when a fast, powerful beat came soaring through the sound boxes of the huge disco. The mood of the whole building livened up instantly and people started shouting. It was a song Luka knew very, very well. Her own voice started booming though the speakers and the crowd started shouting the lyrics.

"_Dame dame yo!_" The sound blasted through the whole building.

Before Gumi knew what was going on, she and Luka were on the stage, right between the big speakers. People yelled at them, pointing and throwing things, until Luka undid her disguise in a flashy manner. She threw the hair ties, the cap and the jacket into the crowd. Most people recognized her and started chanting, "_Luka! Luka! Luka!_"

Luka picked up two microphones that were sitting at the back of the stage. Only now did people start recognizing the girl who was up there with her—that was J-Net's Gumi! Luka threw her a microphone, which Gumi had problems catching but somehow managed to grab. The volume went up even further, and the two started singing.

The song was a disco remix and had looped itself in the beginning for a while but now the lyrics were finally coming. Luka opened and sang the first two lines. "_Migi kara hidari he to kotoba ga nagareru! Taikutsu sou na kao gamen mitsumeru kimi__!_" She then pointed at Gumi. It was her cue.

"_Jigen no kabe koete itsudemo ai ni yuku! Kokoro no junbi wo chanto shite oite ne!_" Gumi's voice boomed through the room and people cheered every bit as much for her as they did for Luka.

They joined together in a duet when the refrain came on. Jumping around, they waved their hands and sang. In the middle of the song was an instrumental loop again, so Luka took the chance to say something. "Give me some cheers for my good friend, Gumi! Do you like her?" Luka shouted and pointed at Gumi with one hand and moved it slowly over to the crowd in front of her.

The crowd exploded with cheers and people shouting. Luka smiled, staggered over to Gumi, and laid an arm around her, pointing the microphone at the crowd and shouting. "_Do you want more?_"

The result was stunning. People raised their hands and showed their support. "Then let's party! Gumi will be working with me from now on!" Luka shouted, and the crowd seemed confused for a second. Seeing how the desired result was not happening, Luka in her drunk state simply pulled Gumi's face around and kissed her in front of hundreds of fans.

The people cheered and whistled. It almost was louder than the music.

Gumi pulled up her microphone and waved at the people. "Thank you so much! I'll be working for Krypton now, together with Luka! Give me all your support, please! I love you all!" the green-haired girl said, and earned herself some extra loud cheering.

When the lyrics came back in, the girls were dancing, hand in hand, singing the remixed version of "Luka Luka Night Fever," which they dubbed now "Luka Gumi Night Fever."

The song lasted for nearly twelve minutes, thrice the time it usually ran. The two girls escaped backstage before the crowd got out of control and started climbing the stage.

They went out the back door, panting and laughing and completely out of breath and dizzy. It was nearly four in the morning according to Gumi's cell phone. Arm-in-arm, they staggered towards the streets of Tokyo.

They'd sobered up a bit when they finally managed to get back to Miku's apartment. Luka knew that there was a gigantic scolding waiting for her. Gumi was leaning on Luka, close to passing out. She didn't even remember half of what had happened after they'd ordered the first couple of drinks. And where exactly was Luka's car?

She rang the bell. It didn't take even a minute for an angry Miku to open the door.

"I figured as much," Miku said, and was about to slap Luka even though she _knew_ she should have expected something like this. "Come in, I'll get you some water."

Luka put Gumi down, not saying anything. If there was one thing she had learned, it was that if Miku were angry about something Luka'd done, then Luka was almost always at fault. And aside from her expression, Miku _was_ pretty angry.

Luka could feel exhaustion kicking in, so she leaned her back against Gumi's. Her mind faded and she would have fallen asleep if not for Miku slapping the back of her head. "Drink this before you go all K.O.'ed." She gave Luka a big glass of water. "We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Miku couldn't simply leave the two girls in the living room. Haku and Neru had come back earlier, after Luka left, and had quickly gone to bed. Neru had constantly burped from eating too much and Haku was complaining about her doing so. There would be a big ruckus the next morning if she left Luka and Gumi in there.

Pulling first Luka in her room and then Gumi, she somehow managed to fit them into the guest futon she had prepared ahead of time. When she dragged Gumi away, she noticed that the girl had pink lipstick all over her mouth and cheeks. Giving Luka a little check more or less confirmed it. They'd literally gone all "party-hard," as Neru would say.

Miku went to bed, leaving the two party girls in the futon. First thing tomorrow, she would send them showering. Best cold. Very cold. After that, she would give Luka a good scolding. There was no doubt that this was Luka's fault.

She'd just closed her eyes when suddenly she could hear something weird from the futon next to her. Luka was doing _that_ again. Gumi would wake up with a giant hickey on her neck. But well, maybe that was just about the right punishment.

~~~Hear My Song!~~~

"Where the hell…what…ugh, my head…" Luka rubbed her face and forehead. When she looked over at the bed, she saw that Miku was already gone. Well, it _was_ a weekday, so she had school…

She tried to get up, but something held Luka back. She looked beneath the futon and saw that Gumi was clinging to her, completely undressed. She herself wasn't exactly wearing more than Gumi.

"This has gotta be a bad dream…else I'm dead meat," Luka said, rubbing her forehead some more.

After the image didn't go away, she blushed quite a bit. She had…cheated on her girlfriend, right? Yeah…this was clearly cheating on Miku. In her own room. Probably right under her nose. She was so dead, Luka started to sweat.

"Hey, Gumi, wake up. Gumi, _wake up!_" Luka shook the green-haired girl a bit and got her to slowly open her eyes. Gumi immediately put her hand to her mouth and looked like she felt like throwing up, but nothing happened.

"Where am I? Luka…?" Gumi only slowly came back to reality and realized what was going on. She let go of Luka at almost light speed, moving as far away from the naked songstress as she could without leaving the futon.

"Wha-wha-what did we do? Ugh, my head…" Gumi held her skull. It felt as if a whole swarm of tuna fish were swimming right through it. She remembered talking to Luka about her songs in her car, and then…

"What do you think it _looks_ like we did?" Luka said, trying to keep her voice down. She wasn't exactly turned on at the moment by the naked Gumi, despite her good looks. If Luka weren't with Miku and quite devoted to her, she might even be interested…but even so, this would be a really bad way to start things.

"My first time was with a woman…and on top of that I don't remember _anything!_" Gumi whined and buried her face in her hands.

"Don't make it tragic. My first time was with a woman too," Luka said casually and remembered that time quite clearly…which made this situation even worse.

"Miku's gonna kill me…" Luka said, searching for her clothes. They were nowhere to be found. At least she had learned to store a few of her clothes in Miku's closet for such cases. Dressing, with an embarrassed Gumi hiding under the futon, Luka managed to get into some clean clothes. Maybe she should shower too…

Come to think of it, neither she nor Gumi smelled of alcohol or sweat.

Luka threw some of Miku's clothes over the blanket, knowing they would fit Gumi. "Get dressed. I don't want to sit around in this room all day. I have to get to work. That reminds me…do you remember where we parked yesterday?" Luka was a little embarrassed to ask.

"I don't really remember _anything_ from yesterday, much less where we parked. How much do you remember?" Gumi was having difficulty dressing under the futon, but she was too embarrassed to simply stand in the room naked and dress like Luka. Did the woman have no shame at all?

"I guess that means we'll be walking. I…I'll try to speak to my boss about you. Might as well do so while you're there. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll decide to take you under contract right away," Luka said and looked for some makeup on Miku's desk. A bit of lipstick was all she needed and some concealer for the bags under her eyes.

Luka then disguised herself by tying her hair into a big ponytail and putting on fake glasses and a cap. She didn't have anything to disguise Gumi, but well, nothing could be done about that.

Gumi was really curious now about how well Luka found everything in Miku's room. Just how often did she crash at Miku's place after drinking that she had so much stuff prepared?

It took them another fifteen minutes to get going. It was noon when they finally got aboard the train. Nobody seemed to notice them. When they arrived at the big Krypton building, Luka was welcomed not-so-happily by her manager.

"Would you care to explain to me what the _hell_ was wrong with you last night?" Erico seemed quite angry, and Luka could guess why. The news that she had showed up drunk and singing at a disco was probably really bad PR.

"Well, at least you brought Gumi with you. The bosses are in a fury, just so you know! Thanks to you, we have no choice but to negotiate with J-Net for a change of contracts with her. That is going to come out of your salary, let me tell you that!" Erico said. He walked away, followed by the two girls.

"What the hell do you mean? I have no idea what's going on anymore. A change of contracts? Gumi, didn't you say they laid you off?" Luka was feeling a bit awkward. Everyone was seemingly aware of what had gone down last night—everyone except her and Gumi.

Erico opened the door to Luka's wardrobe room, where a small PC was running the same video on endless loop. The moment Luka entered and saw the screen, it zoomed up to Luka energetically kissing Gumi, which drove a powerful red in Gumi's face.

"Eh?" Gumi gasped.

The video looped after ten minutes, and the two girls were quite baffled. Not just at _what_ they had done and said, but also that someone had actually screened their little gig.

"Thanks to you advertising that Gumi here is going to sign a deal with Krypton, we've had calls from fans all day. They want to know whats up with J-Net and what exactly your relationship is with Gumi. You can imagine that a lot of people think you two are going out—and that's the _tame_ story!" Erico said, and cut the power to the PC.

Luka felt like fainting. Maybe she could just lose consciousness and never wake up so she didn't have to face Miku's anger.

"Uh, Mister Manager…J-Net cut their contract with me yesterday. I am currently without an agency," Gumi said in a small voice. She didn't dare to look at the rather intimidating man.

"Well, _there's_ at least some good news then. You can probably imagine that neither you nor Krypton have much of a choice after the chaotic stunt Miss Irresponsible here pulled last night. I'll talk to the bosses. Luka, I called Miku earlier to let her know what's going on. I _pray_ you are sturdy enough." Erico crossed himself and said, "Amen," before leaving.

Luka sat down on a chair, a bit pale. Just why the _hell_ did she have to do that? She loved Miku, so what was wrong with her to kiss and make out with Gumi like that? In front of hundreds of people, too!

"Why are you so afraid of Miku?" Gumi had more or less figured out what was going on, but she still couldn't be absolutely sure.

"I'm dating her. I can imagine she probably isn't very happy I made out with another girl in front of a huge crowd," Luka said. She didn't even care anymore if Gumi knew or not. Things couldn't get any worse than they already were.

Gumi refrained from saying anything inconsiderate. She was partly at fault, too. She hadn't exactly held back on the drinks or anything. Maybe if they both explained things to Miku, everything would work out. Or so Gumi thought.

They had spent a good ten minutes in silence when a very annoyed (even more so than before) manager burst into the room. "You've really gotten yourself into a fine mess, Luka. The board of directors is deciding whether or not to use your little stunt as a publicity gag. Let me warn you, if they do, you're going to have to pretend you're going out with Gumi. Two Russian girls did something similar in the past and it was a huge promotional kick, so I'd say your chances that the board decides against this is very slim—about as slim as your chances of survival when you tell Miku what I told you just now." Erico's cell phone rang and he answered it without even giving Luka the chance to explain herself.

"Is Miku really that scary? She seemed really nice…" Gumi was a little afraid now, considering that she was the one who'd gotten kissed by Miku's girlfriend.

"In a cold, eerie way, yes. She's not actually violent or the furious type, but the cold, silent type that rubs in the fact that it's entirely your fault when she's angry. I hope she'll let me…_us_ explain what actually happened," Luka said, and felt a lot worse than any hangover could make her feel.

Gumi finally sat down on a chair in the back. The day had just started and things were rushing in on her way too fast. So what now? Krypton take her under contract because Luka had said so last night? And now they were discussing how to make use of Luka's mishap of kissing her? Didn't she get some say in things?

"No use sitting around like this." Luka grabbed Gumi's arm and forcibly pulled her along, marching towards the board's office room with huge steps. She wouldn't just let them do as they pleased.

Luka interrupted the meeting by throwing the door open so hard that it slammed against the wall. Still dragging the helpless little Gumi along, Luka took position in front of the long table the board members were sitting at.

"Listen up." She was shivering on the inside. Maybe she shouldn't use any cuss words…

"The two of us got a little drunk yesterday and did some stuff that's haunting us now. But that is no excuse to use underhanded promotional tactics and claim we have something going on. Neither Gumi nor I need that kind of publicity. I apologize for claiming that Gumi would be working for Krypton by myself, but her contract with J-Net was dissolved yesterday and she is a free musician right now." Luka was talking like a machine pistol, not giving anyone a chance to interrupt her.

Flailing her arms around, Luka stared quite intently at the chief of directors. "Gumi's work has constantly been in the top five spots of the charts. She's even knocked me off first place twice. I do not know what kind of reasoning J-Net had to fire her, but I am sure Krypton as a whole would profit from taking her on. I ask you to consider taking her under contract _regardless_ of what I might have said yesterday."

Luka slammed her hands on the table. "However, I will not stand for any suspicious treatment just because she is a former employee of a rival agency. If Gumi is mistreated, I will consider that a serious breach of trust and I shall have to reconsider working for Krypton in the future." Luka pointed back at the slightly confused and hungover Gumi, who politely bowed out of reflex.

"That is all." Luka crossed her arms in front of her chest, took a few steps back and leaned against the wall.

There was absolute silence in the room. Luka feared for a moment that things would go out of her control and she'd be fired right away.

Finally, Krypton's president, Matsumoto Hirachi, stood up. "Well, we see you are very serious about us employing Miss Lyoid. We already knew that J-Net had dissolved their contract with her. Such news travels fast, and while we had planned to ask her to consider working for Krypton, it was quite a bad move for you, Miss Megurine, to announce such things publicly without consulting with us and your manager first," he explained.

While Luka stared, he slowly walked over to Gumi, who still seemed a little out of it. "We're very familiar with the success of Miss Lyoid," he continued. "We're obviously not able to give her a contract akin to yours, Miss Megurine, until she has proven her ability to sell. I personally, however, have no doubt that it will go well."

He extended his hand and waited for Gumi to take it. "Welcome aboard, Miss Lyoid. I am aware that you'd probably like to keep your stage name, so I will instruct my staff to use it."

Gumi smiled and happily bowed, feeling a little dizzy. Things had gone more easily than she had expected, probably partially thanks to Luka's efforts.

"If you could excuse us, we have a few things to talk over with Miss Megurine here," Matsumoto said, and like a gentleman, he opened the door and escorted Gumi from the room. He then slowly—it seemed like slow motion to Luka—walked back to his seat.

"Regarding the incident last night…well, it is true that we thought about utilizing the same pattern of advertising as t.A.T.u. a few years ago. However, the market here is different, and we decided against it. We will, however, apply a penalty to your salary for this month. Do _not_ let an accident like this happen again. _Ever_. I hope I am making myself clear. We will publicly announce that it was a promotional gag from us and that things got a little too heated up."

He shuffled a few papers that were in front of him and looked up again when the room remained silent. "You may leave now," Matsumoto said, and watched a pale Luka leave the room.

Luka went even paler when she left the room. A frightened-looking Gumi was waiting for her—along with the devil itself.

"M-Miku. Why are you here?" Luka was visibly nervous and shocked.

"School ended early today. Everyone is talking about your little stunt last night—there are a thousand videos on NicoNico. I had a call from Neru earlier. Half of 2ch is talking about you two. And there are a thousand and one theories about what's going on in Krypton," Miku said, arms crossed, standing a few feet away from both the party girls.

"Look, I have a good expla—" Luka wasn't allowed to finish her line, though. Miku interrupted her simply by sighing heavily.

"I know you. You probably decided to get along better with Gumi, or simply wanted to party, and took her to a club. After a _few_ drinks, you stormed the stage in a fit of megalomania and insanity and pulled Gumi with you. Is that about right?" Miku glared at both of them and they nodded. It wasn't quite the truth, but Luka didn't want to tell her that they got to drinking because they liked each other's music.

"Then you know what's coming for you, right?" Miku said, and waited once again for Luka to nod. She had never seen Miku so seriously angry.

Miku took three steps forward and slapped Luka's cheek so hard that the loud smacking sound echoed throughout the whole floor. It left a red handprint on her face.

"I am _not_ going to be needlessly angry for days or do something stupid, but you do deserve at least that much," Miku said and then turned to Gumi. "I'm not sure how much of this is actually your fault. What do you think?" she asked Gumi, glaring at her as well.

"I just went along with everything without resisting. I think I'm about as guilty as Luka," Gumi said. She closed her eyes and waited for the smack. It hurt a lot more than she thought it would.

Luka's left cheek and Gumi's right cheek were now blatantly marked by the signature of an angry girl.

"Let's go. You two are going to treat me to dinner. After that, we're even. I hope there won't be a next time for this kind of thing. Right, Luka?" Miku looked at her and smiled. "_Right?_"

Luka felt incredibly relieved. Thank God Miku was a reasonable girl who didn't want to bloat up an issue like this. Just treating her to barbecue and getting slapped weren't such harsh punishments.

"Did we…have our clothes when we got back last night?" Luka asked, and felt that she should probably tell Miku of her little adventure with Gumi.

"You two were passed out like zombies. I put you in the futon for a while, but I couldn't stand the smell in the end. I stripped you, threw you in the shower, and let some hot water do the trick. I'm not sure if I should be surprised or frightened that you two were so drunk that that didn't wake you up. Don't worry. You couldn't even _move_, much less do anything with Gumi. That's what you thought, right? I could see it in your eyes earlier." Miku gloated and snickered. "Serves you right. By the way, Gumi…"

Miku moved behind Gumi and pulled back some of her hair and pushed on a little spot. Gumi felt a little pain and twitched, moving away from Miku. "Luka has a tendency to leave gigantic hickeys on people. You're lucky you wear your hair like this. It looks terrible," Miku said, smiling.

Gumi looked at Luka as if she were a little frightened and seemed to remember something from the last night as she touched her lips on reflex. She blushed heavily and turned around.

"I guess you really did your best there, Luka." Miku took Luka's hand and held it tightly. "But don't forget who you belong to."

Luka sighed heavily, not understanding anything anymore. "I thought I would be the dominant partner in this relationship…"

"The dominant _pervert_ you are, at least." Miku responded, and grinned, earning some giggles from Gumi and complaining mumbles from Luka.

"You might want to check on your apartment, Gumi. I figured out, with Neru's help, where Luka and you were last night. Her car must be somewhere there. We're going to walk there, Luka," Miku said, as if it were a punishment. "And it's still early. How about we go for dinner at eight? At Baccano's?"

Miku had picked an expensive restaurant. Gumi didn't seem to know and nodded, and Luka sighed, thinking about her wallet.

The three separated. While Gumi was called back into the room with the directors to clear details on her contract, Luka and Miku made their way to last night's disco. They were barely out of the building when Miku pulled Luka with her behind a wall.

Wrapping both her arms around Luka's neck, Miku pulled the pink-haired woman close, energetically kissing her. Luka tried to break it off, but Miku had amazing control over her. The kiss intensified when Miku started to use her tongue. Luka's face turned a bright shade of red and she finally responded by laying her arms around the younger girl. It seemed like she wasn't free of jealousy after all.

They only stopped when Miku had to gasp for air and broke off. She was panting a little bit and her chest was going up and down rapidly. "I won't say I'm sorry for slapping you—you _did_ deserve it, after all. But maybe I was a little too mad. You didn't do it on purpose." Miku closed her eyes, leaned on Luka's shoulder, and tightened her hold on her girlfriend.

"I do love only you, Miku. I know it sounds silly now, but it was a spur of the moment thing. I was…quite drunk, I suppose. I don't remember anything after the third drink." Luka murmured, stroking Miku's hair, which she hadn't bothered to tie in twin tails that morning, apparently.

"I already forgave you, but…what would you have done if Gumi had taken a liking to you? What if she does?" Miku was a little worried. Gumi was a nice girl, and obviously knew that Miku was dating Luka. But if she still fell for Luka…

"That won't happen. She seemed quite shocked when we thought we slept with each other. Don't fuss over that. And even if she did, I wouldn't leave you." Luka smiled and giggled. "Don't we sound like some couple out of a soap opera?"

Miku groaned and playfully hit Luka's shoulder. "You really love ruining the mood, don't you?" She separated from her lover but held Luka's hand and was about to leave when her cell phone rang.

"Yes?" She answered it with her other hand while still holding Luka's. She didn't want to let go of her for now. The last night had taught her that it wasn't her natural right to be Luka's girlfriend and that Luka had chosen her.

"It's me." It was Neru's voice. "Buy some eggs, milk, bread, and rice on your way home." The line got disconnected before Miku could even say no.

"Who was that?" Luka looked at the suddenly annoyed girl next to her.

"Princess on the pea." That was enough to make very clear who it was to Luka. The only times Neru actually called Miku was when she needed something.

"I'll need to stop by a convenience store on the way back. Apparently a legion of cats raided the fridge or something." Miku used a sarcastic tone and sighed, trying to get into a good mood. "You'll need to get to your place and take a shower. Yes, another one. I could still smell the alcohol when I kissed you."

Luka was a little surprised, but put her hand in front of her mouth and breathed. The alcohol smell was still there. "And you still kissed me? Miku, you're so cute." Luka giggled and patted the green-haired girl's head.

"Also, pick out a nice dress or something. I'll tell Gumi to show up wearing one too." The place they were going was quite a high-class restaurant. They didn't have to make reservations since not many people actually went there during the week. It was a Western restaurant, although there was no distinct nationality.

Her cell phone rang again. Miku picked it up in a fury. "Neru, I cannot fly! I am not the Flash or whoever! So sit patiently until I get home; you won't die of hunger!" Miku vented her anger.

A very timid Gumi responded after her initial assault. "M-Miku? Did I get the wrong number?"

"Gumi? Jeez, I'm sorry I yelled. My good-for-nothing cousin called just now and I thought she was gonna add more to the list."

Luka was surprised that Miku had called Neru the good-for-nothing and not Haku. She felt a bit depressed when she actually thought about that. Haku wasn't like that out of her own fault.

"Oh…what was I gonna say…right." Luka's cell rang as well, and she picked up, turning around, while Miku continued her conversation.

"They want you to come back and do some work. They want the video for 'Magnet' out ahead of time. I'm sorry, it's probably because of me." Miku could just imagine Gumi holding her hand in her face, apologetic. Miku sighed, simultaneously with Luka, and they both closed their cell phones.

"I thought we could get away without work," Luka said, and Miku shrugged.

"I did too."

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"_A small fire from the bottom of my heart, my passion has become a blaze long before I knew. My butterfly flew around, here and there, to you. Its scales came off and fell down on your hands. Letting go of each other's hands_…" Miku stopping singing and moved in toward Luka, their hands aligned together, almost kissing.

"_We kissed passionately_," Luka continued and Miku joined back in for the next sentence. "_Because our love is forbidden, our passion blazes up. Embrace me and make sure our love isn't wrong, let me believe and kiss me, to change the world._" They switched positions, Luka moving behind Miku, one hand on her chin, lifting her face slightly up and the other crossed over her stomach. "_Poisoned by your love, I want to drown in our enchanted time._"

Miku fell silent and closed her eyes, one arm up and behind Luka's neck, the other on Luka's hand on her stomach. "_Fence me in, need me more and more, show me your passion if you really love me. I truly love crazy things, go crazy, as much as you can._"

Miku all of a sudden freed herself, grabbed Luka's hands and pulled her towards her, reversing the situation, with Luka slightly bent over and Miku holding her face with both hands, staring into her eyes. It was Luka's turn to stay silent.

"_If we've truly lost our minds, we'll melt as one. As if we had no time to tenderly feel each other, what we went through is not the dream we wanted but our undeniable reality. We realize it's too late to turn back now, after knowing you, I don't care about anyone but you, my love._"

Miku let go of Luka and they went back to their initial poses of leaning against each other, faces close and hands aligned. It was still only Miku singing. "_I feel scared when the morning comes, and when I cry, you say there is nothing wrong with us, to calm me down. Weren't you crying as well?_"

Their voices joined together again. "_Embrace me and make sure our love isn't wrong, let me believe and kiss me, to change the world. Poisoned by your love, I want to drown in our enchanted time._"

With another position change, Luka pulled Miku close and the green-haired girl looked up at Luka, her eyes half closed as if dreaming. "_Drawn to you like a magnet, even if we part, someday, we will find each other again. Never let me go, I don't want to go back, I don't care about anyone but you, my love._"

Miku slowly got up on her toes, moving in closer and closer, until it really looked like they were about to kiss.

In the background, someone yelled, "Cut!"

Miku took a deep breath and felt her legs nearly give in. That had been the twentieth take of the clip, and it was only four minutes of mostly standing around. Luka helped her to a seat in the back when the producer approached them.

"Okay, that about does it. Went much better than I thought." Miku was a bit offended that twenty takes were considered quicker than expected. Just how bad did they think she was at acting? "But really, you two have the right chemistry going on for a video like this. Most people would show some reluctance or something when asked to shoot this sort of clip." He left and talked to a few different people.

"If he only knew," Miku whispered and had problems suppressing her giggles. She felt incredibly tired now. It was past five. Three hours to get Luka's car, go shopping, take a shower, dress up and meet up with Gumi. Said girl was coming over to them now, staying behind to watch the production of the clip.

Now that Miku thought about it, she had never seen any promotional videos for Gumi. Krypton did them a lot, but she had never seen any from J-Net at all.

"That was awesome. You looked so nice together. And that outfit looks so cute, Miku." The short-haired girl was totally taken aback by the stage dress Miku had to wear for the video. It was white and sleeveless with black vertical stripes and black frills ending right over the knees. Red stockings and black pumps made it look especially nice. To suit the image of the song, Miku had been wearing headphones adorned with red butterfly wings.

Luka was the complete opposite. She was wearing white stockings, but the same black pumps, and a dress that seemed like a mix of corset and mini skirt and showed a lot of cleavage. It was completely black with white frills at the top. She had the same headphones, also adorned with butterfly wings, but hers were gray.

"You could easily go out like that!" Gumi said and seemed really eager to try a dress like that for herself.

"I don't really like this outfit," Luka said, and tried to take a deep breath which was impossible due to how tight her dress was. A little annoyed, she got up and waved to the two green-haired girls, signaling that she was going to change.

"I think it's kind of obvious, but you can't tell anyone about us, Gumi," Miku said in a low voice while the other girl sat down next to her.

"I wouldn't. I thought about it at first, but Luka actually seems like a decent person if you get to know her," Gumi said and watched Miku roll her eyes.

"I wouldn't go that far. Almost a decent human, maybe. She's the god of all perverts, I tell you. She got me drunk during our first date and…" Miku paused meaningfully.

Gumi gasped and blushed, looking around as if Luka was listening in. "Really? That's terrible! And you still date her?" She seemed really shocked at first, but that quickly yielded to an amused expression while Miku was bent over trying to hold back her laughter.

After about a minute of laughing, she finally explained. "She took me home, but my keys were inside. So she took me to her place. I spent the night there. Luka didn't do anything immoral. She was a real lady. It's hard to believe, actually." Miku leaned back and smiled happily.

"What lies are you telling her?" Luka popped up from behind them, now in her casual clothes. She turned to Gumi and made a serious face. "Don't believe her. I am not an octopus alien from a tuna planet, or whatever she told you."

"Luka…you watch too much anime," Miku said and patted the songstress's head.

"Miss Lyoid? I mean, Miss Gumi." A staff member had approached them, not really sure how to address Gumi. "The board has decided that it would be best to make a debut single as quickly as possible. It was originally planned for Luka to sing this song, but they decided to give it to you instead. Luka's schedule is pretty full with her collaboration with Miss Hatsune anyway." The staff hand gave Gumi a few sheets of paper with notes and lyrics. The title of the song was "Bad Apple."

Gumi read through it and seemed a little uncomfortable with it. It wasn't exactly a happy song. One of the board members was present and approached Gumi when he saw her holding the notes and sitting with the other two girls.

"The board has decided that it's probably best to show your fans, and also to pull in new fans, that Gumi can sing serious and dark songs as well. We'd like to start recording in the next couple of days. Please familiarize yourself with the lyrics and the melody. We sent a demo tape of the music to your apartment already. Good day." He nodded and left.

"The staff here is always a bit weird, but they're fair and hardworking." Luka leaned on Miku's shoulder, who pretended to groan under the burden. "I do like working here, though. I didn't like that song anyway, so I'm happy they gave it to you, Gumi. If you do well, they'll do a promo video for you next." Luka gave a thumbs-up sign and got back up, pulling Miku with her.

"Come and let's change.." Luka pulled a somewhat lazy Miku with her. Gumi was left behind and looked through the lyrics once more. The clock was pointing to five-thirty now. Gumi still hadn't showered and hadn't picked out a dress for later. She had to treat Miku to dinner, together with Luka.

Gumi was quite happy with her new contract. Not only did Krypton pay more than J-Net ever did, they also had better conditions. With her pay, she could easily save as much as before and still get a bigger apartment. She didn't have a driver's license yet, but maybe she could get one for a bike. She didn't like fancy cars like Luka's too much.

Gumi left the building, keeping the papers with her. The girls had agreed to meet in front of the restaurant. It wasn't too far to the train station, and from there it was only a squirrel's leap to home. It was quite funny that she basically lived next door to Luka but had never seen her there before.

A few people recognized her on the train and outside, and Gumi could hear them whispering. She was able to overhear some of them when she left the train on her stop.

"How lucky for Luka! I mean, to be able to work with Gumi _and_ to kiss her!"

Another girl said, "I think Gumi's the lucky one. She's cute, yeah, but Luka is a real lady and a star."

"Those rumors will stick around for a while, I suppose…" Gumi sighed but didn't really let it get her down. The day had been very, very chaotic and she really needed the shower now. She was going up the stairs when she heard tires squeal. It was undoubtedly Luka getting home in a hurry.

When she opened the door to her apartment, the tape was right there on the ground. It was just a small packet. She picked it up and dropped both the papers and the tape on her bed before she Gumi simply stripped in the middle of the room and went for the bathroom. Finally, a nice hot shower!

She felt really tired. Her days at J-Net had been chaotic too, sometimes, but never on this level. Just knowing Luka was apparently enough to destroy any means of ordered lifestyle. Gumi couldn't even imagine how bad it was for someone who practically lived with her. Miku's nerves must be made of some indestructible material.

After noticing that she was low on shampoo, Gumi checked her legs. No need to shave. She did notice that there was a slightly purple mark on her left breast, but after the shock of thinking that she had actually slept with Luka, this discovery wasn't that unsettling. The woman really had some uncontrollable desires and issues.

The main room was flooded with hot air and steam when Gumi left the bathroom and went to her drawer. She didn't exactly have many clothes that would fit the description "elegant" or "graceful." She didn't often go to any events where she needed such things.

She picked out the white dress that she had gotten from Sonika as a souvenir from England. She took off her goggles and combed her hair straight, except for one ahoge that refused to be smoothed down. Gumi tried really hard to look good.

She resembled her older sister Sonika quite a bit when not in her usual attire and without the goggles on her head. The green silky hair, the cute face and the one ahoge that always stood up unless it was forced below the goggles. Sonika had two of those and was a bit taller, but those were the main differences.

She looked in her mirror. Gumi was quite happy with her outfit. She put on some white pumps since she was unable to walk straight in high heels. She was all ready to go when someone knocked on her door quite energetically.

"Hey, aren't you done yet?" Luka yelled, almost giving Gumi a scare.

Gumi hurried to open the door. When she did, she almost forgot to breathe. Luka was looking quite stunning. She wore a sleeveless, open-backed blood-red dress that showed a lot of cleavage and was very short. The dress was accompanied by black heels. Luka was almost a head taller than Gumi now.

"Wow, you look nice." Luka leaned forward, as if to inspect Gumi close up. "I was right this morning. You _are_ bigger than Miku." Luka grinned and then broke out in laughter at Gumi's embarrassed face.

"Don't bring that up! That moment took years off my life." Gumi looked a bit confused now. "Aren't you with Miku? Did you just come to…_check_ on me?" Gumi actually thought "check on my boobs" but she didn't want to know what Luka would say.

"The restaurant is on the way. I'll drop you off, get Miku, and then come back. Still gotta think how I can get you two back since I plan to stay at Miku's place," Luka said and grabbed Gumi's hand.

"Wait, my purse!" Gumi stopped Luka before she was dragged out of her own apartment and grabbed a expensive-looking white leather handbag from her closet. "A gift from my sister," Gumi explained when Luka eyed the handbag curiously.

"I didn't know you had a sister. Where does she live?" Luka was a bit interested in Gumi now. She liked her a lot more now than she had just two days ago. Maybe because they had already gone through some really, really weird moments.

"She lives overseas, in London. She works for Zero-C, a famous corporation that produces sound libraries, effects, that sort of stuff. She's their mascot and also doubles as a songstress. Zero-C is basically her agency." Gumi walked with Luka to her car. She had already experienced once how Luka drove, so at least she was prepared now. Each step was accompanied by the sound of Luka's high heels hitting hard stone.

"I know of them. They do some business with Krypton as well, I think. They have this revolutionary new system where a person records their voice and then they can use that to create a media library. Krypton was talking about letting me do that, but Zero-C wasn't willing to pay what Krypton wanted. Been a while since I've heard of them. And your sister is working for them? What's her name?" Luka pressed the button on her keys and her car's lights lit up for a second, unlocking the car's doors.

"Sonika Lyoid." Gumi still didn't like her surname, but her sister commonly went by it. Most people just called her Sonika, though. She was on her way to become as famous as the superstar Gakupo.

"Makes sense. You resemble her, too. I saw a picture of her a while ago. She's really beautiful," Luka said and sat down, waiting for Gumi to sit in the passenger seat. "I like your looks better. Sonika looks older than she probably is."

"If she heard that, she'd kill you. Sonika can be really scary if she gets mad." Gumi smiled and was happy about the compliment. She could see why Miku actually loved this woman. She was rough, blunt, and probably quite perverted, but she was fun to be around, and when it really counted, considerate.

"How did you and Miku get together?" Gumi was curious now, and waited for Luka to answer after she started the car.

"Silly story, really." Luka laughed and started to tell Gumi of how she and Miku ended up together.

The car slowed down too quickly, and Gumi unwillingly bent over in her seat. The woman really didn't know what safe driving was. Or traffic laws, for that matter. When Gumi got out of the car, she could already see Miku waiting on the other side of the street.

She was wearing a very light green dress with a white cloth sash around her waist. The dress ended at her knees and she was wearing a pair of white pumps. She was the same height as Gumi, so Luka more or less towered over them. Somehow, Gumi imagined Luka walking around, one girl on each arm, with the words "pimp" floating in golden letters over her head.

That idea was so funny that Gumi couldn't hold in the laughter. Miku waved to Luka and Gumi, who shortly made their way over the street.

"It's not easy to survive driving with Luka, right?" Miku laughed and watched Luka pull an annoyed face.

"Shush, you. My driving is perfectly safe," Luka insisted, and took Miku's hand. Gumi walked to left of Miku and Luka to the right. There was already a waiter at the entrance, welcoming them and leading them to a table.

"You look really nice, Gumi. I would have thought you were someone else if Luka hadn't been with you." Miku was a little embarrassed to say that.

"She resembles Sonika Lyoid, don't you think?" Luka pointed at the ahoge and the white dress. There was a famous glamor shot of Sonika in a very similar dress. The only difference was that she had a double ahoge.

"I don't know who that is. I don't know that many people in the music business, Luka." Miku felt a bit offended that Luka apparently thought she'd know.

"Zero-C's mascot and a songstress. My sister," Gumi said, letting the cat out of the bag. "She lives in London." Gumi sat down and looked around.

The restaurant was quite an exclusive place. The whole building was looked old-fashioned, with big, finely carved wooden support pillars that seemed to be mostly for decoration. The tables and chairs were all made of some kind of dark, noble wood. It felt really nice.

A waiter brought them the menu and asked them what they wanted to drink. Miku warned Luka with a short glare and Luka ordered a mild wine for them. Gumi remembered that Miku was still underage, but didn't dare to ask. Apparently the girl was already used to drinking.

"What do you think, Gumi? Will you like working at Krypton?" Miku asked and leaned one arm on the table.

"They seem nice enough. And you two are there, too. If you had asked me this a week ago, I would've said I'd rather eat a can of bugs. I really hated Luka back then. But she isn't that bad a person after all," Gumi said and got an angry look from Luka.

"Miku, you're rubbing off on her already. Stop talking about me like I'm the kraken or some other mythical monster already." Luka frowned and rolled her eyes.

The two green-haired girls laughed and after a few seconds, Luka joined in. Their drinks came just as they calmed down. The waiter looked a little bit suspiciously at Miku when he placed the glasses on the table and poured the wine, but he didn't say anything.

"Cheers to Gumi working with us now!" Luka said, and held her glass in the air. The other two picked theirs up, and the sound of glass clinking marked the beginning of a new life for Gumi.

End of Chapter V


	6. Miracles and Railroads

**Hear My Song!**

Chapter VI

_Miracles and Railroads_

"Okay, that's all!"

Gumi stretched, happy that it was finally over. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Luka passing by outside the room.

"Good work, everyone!" Gumi shouted and opened the door, causing Luka to turn around. After a very confused look, Luka covered her mouth and started laughing so hard that her whole face was red.

"You don't have to laugh that hard…" Gumi said, looking a bit annoyed.

True, the costume she was wearing was that of a somewhat odd shrine priestess called Rumei, a game character, but it wasn't that funny.

_Some time ago…_

"Cheers on your first single with Krypton!" Luka lifted her glass and waited for the other two girls to follow suit. Miku was so wasted that she was having problems keeping her glass straight and Gumi's top was sliding off her shoulders, a weird yet very satisfied expression on her face.

"The…how many…how often…are you gonna…urgh…" Miku couldn't think clearly anymore.

With a loud thud, Gumi hit the ground, fast asleep. Miku was barely hanging on, unable to even sit up straight.

It was the evening of the day Gumi's first single "Bad Apple!" had gone on sale. It was a hit. It hadn't made the top spot in the charts (which was held by a new song from Gakupo) but she did manage to place in the top five. A few days later Miku's first single "Love Is War" would go on sale, the same day as Luka and Miku's new and already much discussed and disputed duet, "Magnet."

Krypton was launching a full assault at the music media with their newly acquired talents. Luka's new single "Just Be Friends" was scheduled to come out a few days after "Magnet." It was all a very well-designed PR stunt.

Luka had invited them over to stay at her place. Well, Miku could stay and Gumi could just go the few steps back home, and they could party in celebration. They had been out to a disco first, but after Luka caused yet another accident simply by existing, they had returned to her apartment.

"I'm going…bed…let…sleep…" Miku managed to crawl the few meters to the bedroom and helped herself into Luka's bed. The songstress was not quite as wasted as Miku, but she drunk enough to get the keen idea to empty the remaining bottle of whatever that was she had found in her storeroom.

A few minutes later, another loud thud signaled that Luka was now sleeping peacefully next to Gumi, passed out and smiling.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

The night passed, and with the morning came the sun, a new day, and tremendous hangovers.

"This must be what being hit by a car feels like," Gumi covered her eyes with her hands. She was still lying in Luka's living room, unable to escape from the iron grasp of the pink-haired lesbian.

"Morning…" Miku had managed to walk over from the bedroom, leaning against the wall the whole way for support. She eyed her lover for a moment, then finally chose to ignore her.

"We both have green hair and are cute, according to her, so I guess she mistook you for me," she said to Gumi. "She once drank enough to mistake a lamppost for me, so yeah…" Miku walked over to the kitchen and tried to fill a glass with water. She needed three attempts to do so.

Miku rubbed her cheeks and moaned. "Why do I always let her do this…"

Her head felt like it was filled with a beehive or a dozen. She was slowly getting used to drinking, and while the evening was always fun, the morning after was _terrible_.

Gumi, slowly coming back from the realm of clouded thoughts and hangovers, somehow managed to free herself from Luka and got up. That she was half undressed wasn't that big of an issue to her. Both Miku and Luka had seen her naked before, and considering what they had already gone through…

"I think…that's my top." Gumi picked up a piece of cloth that smelled like whiskey and decided against wearing it again. She had a terrible taste in her mouth. Miku, still standing in the kitchen, picked up another glass and handed it to the pretty yet hungover girl who was slowly walking over to her.

"Thanks." Gumi gratefully held the glass and took a sip.

Miku searched through the drawers and took out some sliced bread, handing a piece over to Gumi and getting one for herself. Luka was still peacefully passed out on the floor, but she would be up soon enough.

"Is partying with Luka always like this?" Gumi asked, nibbling on her bread. It tasted quite bad and she didn't really want to eat it, but she knew it would help.

"Most of the time. I tried stopping her a few times, but there's just no way. Well, aside from the morning after, it _is_ pretty fun…" Miku remembered the last night, at least most of it.

They had played strip poker after a few drinks. Miku was absolutely terrible at the game, and Gumi was not much better. Luka seemed to have a godly hand all the time. At some point, a good dozen cards slipped out of Luka's sleeve and the other girls picked up their clothes and stripped Luka to her underwear.

Afterward her memories were a little blurry, but she remembered that they'd plundered Luka's closet and dressed each other up in ridiculous outfits. That's right, there was a pile of clothes in the bedroom that Miku had wondered about.

"Whoa…it's already ten-twenty. And it's Sunday. I need to do my homework. Gumi, you should go home before she wakes up. She's…well, just go home before she wakes up, okay?" Miku said, laying one hand on Gumi's shoulder. She still only walking around in a skirt and bra.

Miku knew that there was a good fifty-fifty chance that Luka would wake up either way too energetic and _without_ a hangover, or she'd wake up _with_ a hangover. Both made her pretty unbearable. It would also come down to Miku cleaning up this mess together with Luka later. The woman would never clean up without Miku telling her so.

"I'll borrow one of Luka's tops…have you seen my shoes?" Gumi looked around the room, but it sort of looked like a bomb had gone off in there. There were a lot of empty bottles on the table and the floor, cards everywhere, and some clothes.

"They'll show up. You're next door, right? Just go barefoot." Miku couldn't be bothered to search for anything now. The fact that she had forgotten about her homework yet _again_, thanks to Luka, was pretty bad. Thank God summer vacation was coming up soon. Miku needed the extra time for her work at Krypton, and not having to worry about school was a good thing as well.

Gumi moaned and turned her head and shoulders, only to bend over and sigh. It wasn't the first time she'd been hungover after a party, but partying with Luka was especially wild. She could have sworn that there was something important she had forgotten to tell Miku and Luka…

"I'll call you later, Miku," Gumi said, and wandered in the direction of the bedroom. She picked up a simple pink top and left the apartment. Her hair was worse than any bed hair and she probably really needed a shower. Thank God it was just down with the lift and up the stairs to her own apartment.

"I'll clean up later…" Miku said to herself. She stepped over Luka and went into the bathroom. A shower was in order first. At least she had planned ahead and taken her homework and a change of clothes from home. Neru and Haku were not very happy that Miku sometimes stayed at Luka's place since that meant warmed-up food, but they were slowly growing used to it.

Miku got rid of the smelly clothes, which she threw in the laundry bin. Then Miku went into the shower and switched the hot water on. She felt alive again. Luka was a lot of fun, but Miku really could do without the hangovers.

It was barely five minutes until the door slowly opened and a very tired-looking Luka showed up. After throwing her clothes into the laundry without any regard for the fact Miku was already in the shower, Luka pulled open the shower door and stepped inside.

"You couldn't have waited until I was done?" Miku wasn't annoyed, just a little tired.

"I feel terrible. I really wanted a hot shower," Luka said, and turned up the water a little before leaning against the wall side of the cabin. She felt a little nauseous. She let her head hang and stayed like that for a few minutes, only to be surprised when Miku felt her forehead and looked a bit worried.

"Don't worry, just hung over…I feel like I should be sorry for something, too, but I can't remember what," Luka added. She looked up, opening her mouth wide to swallow some hot water.

"You cheated at strip poker and probably stripped Gumi in your sleep. Nothing we haven't seen before. Gumi wasn't surprised, either." Miku turned the heat up. Steam rose from the shower and Miku felt a little revitalized. She turned around and looked back, waiting for Luka to take the invitation.

Luka smiled softly and wrapped her arms around Miku's waist, pulling her towards herself. The green-haired girl leaned against her as the hot water sprinkled down on them.

"I was really happy when you protected me last night," Miku said, running her fingers over Luka's arms. Luka had probably forgotten about it, considering how smashed she already was at the time, but nevertheless…

_Miku had stayed at the bar while Luka and Gumi went dancing. Miku had spent two hours on the dance floor with Luka and was simply out of stamina. The pink-haired party tiger had seemingly endless stamina for these things. While there, a very handsome but annoying guy kept hitting on Miku. He just wouldn't leave, and he grabbed Miku's arm when she started ignoring him. Luka had just come back with Gumi._

_The guy noticed a hand on his shoulder and a very dangerous voice saying, "Hey, you."_

_Luka spoke in English, and when the guy turned around, her eyes were damn scary in the dim light of the bar._

"_I suggest you stop hitting on my girl," Luka blatantly said. Gumi was right behind her and sat down next to Miku, who watched Luka, fascinated._

"_What—_your_ girl? What, you're a lesbian? Wow, disgusting," the guy said and stood up, towering almost a whole head taller than Luka. He was blond and although not really muscular, he was pretty toned._

_Luka twitched for a second when he said "disgusting" and as soon as he was standing, she executed a brutal kick that landed directly in the man's weakest spot. Miku watched with big eyes as Luka proceeded to mess up the guy._

_Pulling his hair as the security guards were already on their way, Luka whispered a few words in his ear. "If you know what's good for you, you'll never come near my love again, or I'll make sure you'll never, ever, be able to get 'it' up, understand?" She was still speaking English, and her eyes were just small slits. There was a very dangerous aura about her._

_The guy just whimpered, despite being taller and probably stronger than Luka and nodded, holding his crotch in pain. Luka dropped him and pulled both Miku and Gumi away by their arms, and all three of them fled from the security guards who were pulling through the masses._

"I won't let anyone hit on you," Luka said and kissed Miku's neck. "You're my love, after all."

Miku leaned back little more on Luka, smiling happily. "You're so sweet," she said, giggling. "Are you really Luka Megurine? Did I bring a lookalike home with me?" Miku teased.

She faced retaliation immediately. Luka poked her cheek and tightened her arms around Miku's waist. "Don't ruin the moment, you!" She leaned her chin on Miku's shoulder and pressed her body harder against Miku's, making the younger girl blush a little.

She could feel Luka's breasts pressing against her back, and the woman's hands slowly moved up to her chest. Miku really wasn't in the mood for sex now, so she pulled free from Luka's embrace and turned around, facing her lover.

"Let's save that for later." Miku grinned and laid both her arms around Luka's neck before passionately kissing her. They could each still taste the alcohol and broke the kiss after a few seconds.

"Sort of…eww…" Miku said, and stuck out her tongue.

"Good call…" Luka replied and did the same.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku had just finished her homework. It was past two in the afternoon now. Her stomach growled. They had eaten some bread and cheese after the shower and Luka had actually proceeded to clean up, giving Miku some time to do her homework. It took Luka over two hours to finish cleaning because she kept showing up in the living room to see Miku, who complained about not being able to concentrate.

"You get your vacation at the end of next week, right?" Luka was lazily lying around next to the table Miku had been doing her homework on. "Want to take a trip somewhere?"

"We have work to do. Your schedule for the next two weeks is so full that I'm starting to wonder when you'll eat and sleep," Miku said with a look that could have sobered up Luka any time.

"Damn…I want to go on a vacation. To the beach. Or the mountains…scratch the mountains, too much walking." Luka rolled over on the floor and then sat up, looking at Miku. "Let's escape together and flee to the beach!"

Miku rolled up one of her notebooks and hit Luka on the forehead with it. "Don't be silly. We can still go on a trip later. My vacation is longer than one week. I dropped my part-time job, too, since I'm earning some money from Krypton now." She started to put away her books and notebooks. "We have an interview tomorrow at TV Tokyo. You need to work on your new single, too." Miku reminded Luka of her duties, which was Luka's least favorite part of life. Duties. But well, it couldn't be helped. She'd really gotten too relaxed after she'd met Miku. Luka wanted to spend all her time with her.

"I really don't know what I should write about." Luka let herself fall to the floor and sighed. "Maybe a dark song. Haven't had one like that in a while…"

As if on command, Miku's cell phone rang. It was Gumi. From the background noise, Gumi was outside somewhere. "What's up, Gumi?" Miku was curious about what the girl was up to. They had become really good friends in the end, despite Luka's stunt.

"I'm on my way to the agency. They called me because they have some big news, or so they said. I wonder what it is. It didn't sound bad. Maybe they already want me to make another song?" Gumi sounded really excited. Miku could literally imagine her hopping from one foot on another, unable to stand still.

"Maybe it's the PV they talked about. Your single really shot up high," Miku said and leaned back. Luka rolled over to listen in and Miku held the phone between them to let Luka listen.

"I've never done a PV before. Is it hard work?" Gumi was curious.

Luka had done several promotional videos before, so she answered. "It's tiring, but it's a huge publicity boost. They must really trust your abilities if they're already calling for a PV," Luka said.

"You're still together? You two really are inseparable. My train is here, I'll call you later." Gumi shut the connection down.

"Oh, I have mail." Miku only just noticed when she was about to flip the phone closed. It was from Neru. It consisted of a lot of emoticons and some text.

_Come home. I hate warmed up food._

"Typical…" Miku deleted the message and put the phone away. "Let's go to the park."

Miku was a little sick of being indoors all the time, and she really didn't have anything to do. Maybe Gumi would have some exciting news later.

"Let's drop by Kaito's shop before we go. I want ice cream. Somehow." Luka slowly got up and made her way to the bedroom. "Any idea of what I should wear? Maybe I'll go with twin tails today. Partner look!" she shouted from the other room. Miku could hear her lover laughing over that idea.

"Good idea, do it! I'll wear the same thing you do then!" Miku said on a whim, and immediately regretted it. She could feel the malicious aura from the bedroom flowing over.

Luka came back wearing a short skirt and sleeveless top, both black. It was really warm outside, so it was fitting, but the skirt was a bit short and with Luka's chest size, that top was…

She handed the clothes over to Miku—an identical set of the ones she wore. Luka smiled and waited for Miku to take them, who handed Luka two hair ties in return. It took Luka some effort to bind her long pink hair into somewhat symmetrical twin tails. In the end, Miku helped her after she dressed up. Luka had bought her some sandals about a week ago, so she would wear those.

"Do you have your key?" Miku asked when they were on the doorstep. Luka checked her handbag and nodded.

"Purse?" Another nod. Miku had the of habit making Luka check for those things so she didn't leave them behind. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.

Going by car didn't take long and Luka parked right at the border of the park that wasn't far from Kaito's ice cream shop. Miku could feel a few people staring at her and Luka. Well, probably mostly Luka. She had an amazing rack in that outfit, Miku thought.

They found the shop closed, with a note on the door:

_Back in a few hours._

Coincidentally, they also found Meiko's shop closed with a similar note. It was a nice, warm day, so it was understandable if Meiko had closed up for the time being—but Kaito could have done some real business today.

But it couldn't be helped. The two girls headed to the park. Miku was long used to people looking at two girls walking together like a couple, and she grabbed Luka's hand after a few steps. The trees were rustling in the breeze, and it really felt like summer.

"I always thought it was a pain that so many girls grew out their hair and dyed it pink to imitate me. But it's actually rather handy. No one would guess I'm the real Luka." The songstress grinned and pulled Miku a little closer, who happily followed and grabbed Luka's arm.

"I guess everything has its good points. Well, most things," Miku corrected herself, and enjoyed the breeze going through her hair. "I'm really happy I didn't freak out and dump you back when we first went out." Miku remembered that evening with mixed feelings. Being with Luka had changed her. But it had changed Luka too.

"You cannot believe how nervous I was. I really, really liked you but I knew the chances were slim," Luka said, not speaking as loudly as before to avoid being heard. Her voice undeniably gave away that she was the real Luka.

"You looked as calm as a rock on the outside, though. I had a million thoughts in my head." Miku was a little surprised that Luka had admitted to being nervous.

"I was so worried that you might dump me that I felt like emptying the whole bottle of wine."

"You don't have to be nervous to do that, though," Miku said and got a horrified look from Luka.

"_Hey!_" Luka complained and watched Miku giggle and grin at her. "You're really…" She shook her head and had to laugh as well.

"Miku. Let's do that." Luka pointed to the lake in the middle of the park while laughing. Several paddle boats were on it. When they looked back, they saw that they had just passed a sign and the pier that rented said boats.

"Sure, I always wanted to get in one." Miku looked thoughtfully around and pointed to a small stand that was selling crepes and similar things. "Let's eat them on the lake."

Luka's stomach agreed and growled. Miku had to hold back her laughter and Luka actually blushed a little bit in embarrassment. She handed over some money to Miku and left for the pier. She had already rented a boat for two hours when Miku came back.

The boat was small and white, with two seats and an open back where people could sit and relax. Luka simply jumped on board, in a very unladylike manner. Miku refused to do that and Luka helped her on board as if she were a gentleman.

They took off from the pier. Luka took the first turn to pedal and Miku enjoyed the breeze a little. They were in the middle of the lake when Luka's stamina ran out and the boat came to a standstill. Both of them retreated to the back and started eating their crepes, quietly enjoying the lake and the summer air. They were both still a little hungover, so they didn't talk much. But they knew each other so well by now that that wasn't really necessary for them anymore.

"Hey…isn't that Kaito and Meiko?" Miku pointed at a paddle boat that was floating by in the distance. In the back was a woman with short brown hair who wore jean shorts and a blazing red top. She was accompanied by a blue-haired man wearing a white shirt and ordinary blue jeans.

"Yeah. I guess he's finally making some progress after they went to the hot springs together," Luka said, and picked a piece from her crepe, holding it in front of Miku. "Say _ahhh_," Luka joked, and Miku actually followed up, opening her mouth and letting Luka feed her for a bit until they both started laughing.

_Not so far away…_

Their two acquaintances in the other boat were enjoying themselves as well. "You sure it's okay to simply close your shop like that? I could have gone on alone," Meiko said, leaning back. She dipped her hand into the cold water and played with the slight current created by the boat.

"I'll miss out on some business, but going out with you is more important," Kaito said, and opened up a large cooler he had brought along. He took out an ice cream cone. "Here."

Meiko took the cone and started to lick the ice cream. She was slowly getting more used to his bluntness…or should she call it honesty? Either way, it was just an act of deciding how she worded things when she spoke to him. She thought about friend-zoning him, but that would be a waste. Up close, Kaito was quite a good-looking man.

"I wish I had some sake." Meiko was sometimes a little thoughtless.

"You can't get drunk in broad daylight. The police would arrest you," Kaito said, earning an annoyed look from Meiko. He was trying to somehow get a hold on his habit of simply blurting out whatever he was thinking. He wasn't making a lot of progress, however.

"I heard business at your place is quite bad these days. What's wrong?" Kaito had helped himself to an ice cream cone himself and sat next to Meiko, which tilted the boat a little to one side.

"The government has issued a new tax on alcohol and there are also the strict regulations about selling stuff to minors. Selling booze is becoming a shitty job," Meiko complained. She leaned against Kaito, who put some strength into sitting up straight.

"Want to work at my place as a waitress? I could use one —it's ridiculous how stressful it gets at peak times. And I really want to see you in a waitress uniform." Kaito knew he would probably get whacked for that, but well, it was _true_. Meiko would look awesome in a waitress outfit.

But instead Meiko took it as a compliment and looked down at herself. "A waitress, huh…I guess I could do that…"

She took a big bite of ice cream, which made her shiver. But she moved too much, lost her balance, and toppled backwards.

Kaito grabbed her hand in a hurry and braced himself against the boat's rail. Meiko was only a few centimeters above the water's surface, hanging there, as Kaito pulled with all his might to prevent her from falling into the water.

"Don't let go!" Meiko didn't seem very eager to land in the cold water.

From a distance, Miku and Luka were watching the spectacle with fascinated faces.

"I don't intend to!" Kaito pressed out between gritted teeth.

He slowly pulled Meiko up, demonstrating quite a bit of strength. Meiko was surprised, too. She was tall and not very light, either, so it must've been quite difficult to pull her up.

A few seconds later, a panting and wheezing Kaito leaned on the left side of the boat and an amazed Meiko leaned on the right side.

"I didn't know you're that strong." Meiko only noticed now that part of Kaito's ice cream cone had landed on her top. Well, that was better than taking a dive in the lake.

"I work out every now and then. But thank God you're not as heavy as I thought," Kaito replied, still wheezing, his face bright red.

Meiko ignored the last comment because he had just saved her from an involuntary swim in the lake. "So, you really want me to work as a waitress for you? I'm not very good at dealing with customers, you know." Meiko was famous for treating less polite customers a bit roughly.

"You just need to take their orders, tell me, and take the ice cream to them. You can handle that. I don't mind if you throw out people that hit on you. I'll add that to the shop's rules—no hitting on the sexy waitress." Kaito was smiling. He knew that Meiko liked it, but didn't show it, when he told her she was sexy. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Meiko had some really awesome curves. She _was_ an adult, after all.

"Do I need a uniform or something?" Meiko was not very happy thinking about wearing something with frills or whatever.

"I think the red top and skirt you usually wear for work is fine. I'd love to see you cosplay as a waitress, though. There was a cosplay shop down the street and—" Kaito almost thrown overboard when Meiko nearly capsized the boat with a mean look. It was a clear sign to stop talking.

"I'll do it. The booze shop isn't exactly profitable right now. I'll just put a message on the door that I'm across the street," Meiko said and got in the front seat of the boat. "Let's see how fast this thing can go. What are you sitting around for? Come and help me," Meiko commanded.

Some very amused meters away…

Luka nearly fell overboard laughing when Kaito and Meiko's paddle boat took off at an almost supersonic speed. For a paddle boat.

Miku had finished her crepe and was lying on the back of the boat, stretched out with her legs in the water. It was such a nice day, she just couldn't resist.

Luka sat down behind her, and Miku moved to use her as a lap pillow. As Miku looked up, the shadows playing over Luka's face and her long pink strands of hair made quite the view.

"You're looking real dreamy right now." Luka circled her finger in the air and found Miku's eyes following it until the green-haired girl grinned and hit the finger with her own.

"Let's enjoy this some more." Luka leaned down, and Miku was surrounded by a whirl of pink hair when Luka's lips reached hers.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Gumi was sitting in her dressing room, a little spaced out. It was a new room, so there hadn't been much in it until a few hours ago. Now almost a dozen costumes were hanging up, waiting to be worn.

Gumi had come to the studio for a meeting, but she had arrived a little late and the meeting was already over. However, the important people were still there. Someone had approached Krypton as sponsor for the promotional video for "Bad Apple!" and they had a very exact idea about how the video should look. The producers had agreed on it, and assigned Gumi the same manager Luka had—Erico. He had explained that the PV would have to be finished in two weeks' time from today, which was also the date a new promotional song was to be released. The plan was to finish the PV production first, which would include many short clips with her switching costumes, and then to finish the song.

The first shooting of the clips would be the next day onwards. There was a total of almost thirty short clips, amounting to a total of three minutes and thirty-seven seconds of video time. Gumi was a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of characters she had to play. She knew the Houtou game series and had played a few of them but several characters were unknown to her.

Gumi felt excited thinking about it now that she was finally getting a grip on what was happening. If her song was good enough to even attract a sponsor for a PV…that was awesome!

She pulled out her cell phone and speed-dialed Miku's number. She heard a few rings and Miku's voice mail answered. Gumi could imagine several reasons why she wasn't answering. None were helping her calm down.

There were so many plans for the future, Gumi almost couldn't keep track of it all. There was the PV, then there was also a song called "Railroad Crossing" with Luka and Miku, who had yet to be informed about it. Gumi had also been asked to write a new song or consult her manager if she couldn't come up with one. But Gumi had always written her own songs.

Thinking about the recent past…she already had something in mind and would write it down later.

When she went back to the recording room, she saw that everyone was busy. Several new songs were going on sale in a very short while and everyone was on a tight schedule. Gumi was greeted by some staff members whose job it had been to do the echo effects on "Bad Apple!" Gumi greeted them, and decided to head outside so that everyone could do their work.

Maybe she would take a stroll in the park. The weather was perfect—not too hot, a little breeze, and the sun shining bright. It was a bit of a walk to the park, but Gumi didn't mind.

When she stopped to buy a pair of sunglasses at the shop on the corner, the owner recognized her and asked her to sign the shop's front window. Gumi was a little worried about her art skills, but she was handed a big permanent marker and scribbled her signature on the window anyway. The owner turned out to be a huge fan—she even had a membership card of some Gumi fan club that apparently had existed ever since her debut with J-Net.

Gumi was happy to give something to her fans and left the shop with a smile that was not half as big as the shop owner's. Popularity was a nice thing—but Gumi soon retreated to a less populated street. She had hardly gotten ten feet when another fan turned up and asked her for her signature—and another, and another! There was even a girl who had dyed her hair green and had gotten the same haircut as Gumi.

"I think I understand how Luka feels when going out. I really love my fans, but it's a little tiring if they ask for signatures nonstop…" Gumi sighed and continued her way to the park. She bought a large hat from a salesman on the street and put it on, managing to avoid being spotted by fans all the way to the park.

When she finally got to the park, Gumi encountered something very…unique. A couple—or so it looked—were walking next to each other, quiet one moment and then bursting out in laughter, only to be silent again for another few seconds. They were soaking wet and it looked like they had just taken a swim in the lake. Gumi believed she recognized the two, but she couldn't remember from where.

A little amused by the two, Gumi sat down on a bench beneath a very big tree that rustled in the wind. She was humming the melody of Miku's new song, "Love Is War", and since she had been there for the recording, she wanted to do her own version of it. The warmth of the sun and the breeze were so relaxing that Gumi laid down on the bench and closed her eyes. The sunglasses helped block out the light, and she dozed off.

She woke up when something tickled her face. First she ignored it, but when it tried to enter her mouth, Gumi sat up in a hurry. Unfortunately, she realized too late that her face was on a collision course with Miku's, who had been standing next to the bench and looking down at her.

It was too late to stop, and Miku had no time to react. Their faces collided, and Gumi fell back on the bank, leaving Miku staggering. Gumi got up again, trying to ask if Miku was okay—only to notice too late that Miku had leaned over. Their faces met each other's _again_ and Miku shared a somewhat brief and unintended kiss with Gumi, who took almost two seconds to realize what was happening.

She pulled back, but not without hitting her knee on the bench. After that, Gumi was a little confused about what to say.

"You two can _never_ tell me again that I'm a klutz!" Luka gasped out between roars of laughter. She had been standing next to Miku the whole time and saw the whole thing. After a long moment she recovered, then turned to Miku, who was still rubbing her forehead.

"I guess Gumi's lips are pretty irresistible. Right, Miku?" Luka was still laughing and Miku stepped on her foot with every intention of causing Luka pain.

"Stop laughing, you sadist!" Miku glared at her before turning to look at Gumi. "Your head okay? That did hurt pretty bad…" Miku sat down on the bench next to Gumi, who was blushing a little from Luka's joke. It had only been for a very brief moment, but she_ had _kissed Miku. Unintentionally, but still…

"I can see why Luka is all over you," Gumi said, teasing Miku a little. Luka looked with a pain-filled yet amused face and broke out into laughter _again_.

"Right, _right?_" Luka roared, making Miku roll her eyes.

"Enough you two, or I'll hit you!" Miku threatened the other two, and while Gumi stopped (still smiling though), Luka had no intention of doing any such thing and proceeded to bend over, laughing her heart out.

A loud thud later, Luka was rubbing her head and Miku was rubbing her hand. All three of them were sitting on the bench now, with Gumi acting as a buffer between them.

Luka was still rubbing her head. "That really hurt! You didn't have to hit me _that_ hard!" The songstress complained. She looked a little angry.

"You didn't have to laugh so hard. It wasn't funny." Miku's retort hit the right spot and Luka shut up.

The two started arguing back and forth until Gumi got up and left without saying a word. Miku and Luka stared at each other, a little concerned. Had they taken it too far and scared Gumi away?

But the optimistic girl came back a few minutes later, carrying three shaved ice cones. One of them looked _very_ odd and wrong, and the other two simply looked like they were from an alien planet.

"God, what's that smell?" Miku got away from Gumi's left hand and was handed the cone with the green ice.

"A new shop that sells experimental kinds of ice opened up around the corner. I saw it on my way here. That is spring onion flavor. That one there is tuna. And this is carrot."

Luka looked a little bit worried at the ice in the cone. It smelled really strongly of…fish. She loved tuna sushi more than any other food, but as an ice flavor? That was a little…

Miku summoned all her courage and licked the ice. It was better than expected, but it _did_ taste like spring onions. What ice maker in his right mind would make a flavor like this? She did like it, though, and enjoyed the ice. Usually, she only ever got ice at Kaito's place, but he didn't have to know about this.

Gumi seemed to love her carrot-flavored ice and even Luka reluctantly tried the tuna-flavored ice.

A few minutes of silence followed, disturbed only by the sounds of licking and crunching. Gumi finished first, followed by Luka. Miku was still finishing her ice cone when Gumi took her friends' hands in her own.

"I'm okay if you argue about things sometimes, but don't fight in front of me. I really hate that." Gumi looked pretty serious for a second, but she soon smiled. "So make up, okay?"

Miku felt pretty bad for hitting Luka all of a sudden. Yes, Luka _had_ laughed too much but Miku had really hit her quite hard. Miku looked at the ground and apologized. "I'm sorry for hitting you."

Luka had her own way of apologizing. She placed a finger on Miku's chin and made the girl look upwards before kissing her passionately in the middle of the park. A few people stared at them. Gumi was a little embarrassed to be standing right next to them and turned around, pretending to see nothing.

Luka finally let the surprised girl go and whispered, "I'm sorry for laughing so much," in the blushing girl's ear.

Miku said nothing and simply took Luka's hand, whispering "Idiot…" to herself.

Gumi finally remembered what she had heard a few hours ago and she suddenly blurted it out without thinking. "I tried calling you earlier, Miku. Did you forget your cell phone?"

"When was that?" Miku seemed a little confused and checked her cell phone. One missed call. "Oh…well…" Miku looked at Luka and thought about their little kissing session on the boat. Gumi must have tried to call right about then. "You see, I was—" But Miku didn't get to finish her line.

"I understand. No explanation needed," Gumi said and held her hand up like a stop sign. Luka started to grin widely and Gumi too, grinned.

Miku just groaned. "Why am I cursed with the two of you?"

Miku took Luka's arm and Gumi walked to the other side of Luka.

"I almost forgot—they're setting up a new promotional song. All three of us are in it! A sponsor has shown up for the PV for 'Bad Apple!' as well," Gumi said and watched as Luka's eyes widened. Krypton wasn't pulling any punches now. Luka had done very few duets, and to form a trio…that was a first, even for her.

"I guess they're working to grab hold of the market. With Gumi under contract, they're going to go after it harder than ever now," Luka theorized.

The three of them walked together, talking about what the agency had in mind and how they were excited about singing together. Miku was terribly nervous already, constantly saying that she hoped she wouldn't mess things up for her more experienced seniors.

"You did fine with 'Magnet', Miku. You'll do fine with this. If it doesn't work, we can just invite Gumi over for a night or something," Luka proposed, seductively licking her lips.

"Don't listen to her, Gumi. She'll corrupt you into something terrible. I know it," Miku warned the blushing girl with a really monotone voice.

"Whoa, so _mean_." Luka gasped and acted all hurt and surprised.

"Take some of your own medicine! And you already had your little action with Gumi, if I remember correctly." Miku's voice grew more dangerous with each word.

Luka knew that this wasn't a good topic. That had _definitely_ been her fault.

Luka let her head hang but didn't say anything, still walking alongside Miku. Gumi was amazed at how close they were and how they trusted each other despite their joking around.

"They gave me a lot of costumes for the 'Bad Apple!' PV. And shooting starts tomorrow." Gumi was so excited about it that the other two looked at her with big smiles.

"Did they finish the lyrics for the trio yet?" Luka was a little curious about this song. After all, it would be her first collaborative work with two other artists. Well, Miku wasn't quite there yet. And singing together with Gumi would probably be quite a challenge. Their voices were made for different kinds of music.

"I don't know, I didn't ask. They only told me the name. But since it's supposed to be recorded within two weeks from today, I think they have it ready." Gumi tapped her chin and tried to remember the details of the conversation when she was told about the trio and the PV.

"My room is full of costumes now…some of them are a bit weird." Gumi was a little weirded out by the sheer number and range of the costumes. The sponsor had been very adamant and clear about this, though. The budget for Gumi's PV was easily as big as the ones Luka normally did, which was odd, given how new Gumi was at Krypton.

"I'm hungry," Luka interrupted, and led the conversation into another direction. "Let's grab something to eat." Luka's voice was like that of a commander and she steered the group in the direction of a small fast food restaurant.

"You're gonna get fat," Miku warned her lover when said woman ordered a big meal off the menu. Gumi giggled, while ordering something lighter and a big salad.

"Don't worry," Luka said. "I use up so many calories at night that—"

Miku almost rammed a sandwich into Luka's mouth. She was blushing heavily. "Okay, okay, we get it. Can you stop describing our sex life in detail to Gumi?"

Miku was a little bothered by how Luka treated Gumi. She would turn poor Gumi into another helpless victim of her charm, just like she had done to Miku.

Luka coughed and emptied a glass of Sprite. "You're so brutal today," Luka said in a tearful-sounding voice, knowing well that both Gumi and Miku would catch on to her act right away.

"You're so perverted today…actually, I take that back. You're not any worse than usual."

Miku stuffed herself with some french fries and sighed, a little bit lost as to how she should spend the rest of the day. She was feeling really weary all of a sudden.

Maybe she should check on the coffee shop. She hadn't visited lately, mostly because of work at Krypton keeping her busy.

Gumi looked a little worried, too. "Girls, I have to go home. They asked me to write a new song. I don't know how much time I'll have after the PV shootings and then working on the trio with you two…" She didn't know how she was going to manage all that.

"I should probably think about some new songs as well. I don't have anything coming up besides the trio, so Erico is gonna yell at me anyway." Luka's statement almost made Miku jump away.

"Gumi, call the police, there's a Luka impersonator here! The girl I like would never _ever_ voluntarily work! This has to be a faaaaa—"

Miku got her cheeks pulled by an annoyed Luka. "Idiot, I worked all the time on my own before I met you." Luka made an angry face and continued to pull Miku's cheeks. Gumi, on the other hand, left in a hurry to avoid getting pulled into this little act. She would see them the next day anyway.

"Seriously, I should think about a new song. Should I come over to your place later?" Luka asked and Miku smiled but declined with a shake of her head.

"No, I have to go and study a bit. Maybe I'll check in the coffee shop down the street at my place before and get some coffee. Good luck with your song."

Miku stood up, leaned down to Luka and kissed her gently. "See you tomorrow. And no parties."

Luka rolled her eyes at that last comment, finished her meal, and got up as well. She had spent so much time with Miku lately that it was a little odd to be suddenly without her. She still had the taste of Miku's lips on her own, and greedily licked her lips over them.

"Work…ugh. I must _really_ be crazy." Luka sighed and went back to where she had parked her car.

Miku walked home, for it would take much longer to get there with the car than on foot.

"Now that I think about it, I really should study for the next math test." Miku sighed and felt that she'd neglected her studies too much lately. But it was well worth the extra effort sometimes if it meant she could be with Luka.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Miku was lying on the floor, eating potato chips and watching the music scene news. She was, sort of, hiding out at Luka's place. Her new single had been released, and the theories and rumors were flying like nothing else. "Magnet" had already caused a lot of turmoil and had placed number one in the national charts, a first for Krypton.

The most common theory on the internet and especially 2ch was something like this: Luka had had an indecent relationship with Gumi, and Gumi had switched labels to be with her lover. Miku was the jealous girl who was Luka's mistress.

The whole thing was fueled by Miku's song "Love Is War." Apparently, most people thought that she was trying to win Luka back. That Luka and Gumi had been seen in public kissing and dancing that one night was only giving the fans even more false proof to make up their gossip and theories.

The actual news and more down-to-earth people said it was a publicity act and that there was nothing between the three girls. The news right now was analyzing the PV for "Magnet." They showed a lot of close-ups of the video, discussing all sorts of details. Miku quickly grew bored of it.

Luka, on the other hand, was always amused at how far-off those so-called "experts" were. Not a single one of them guessed what was really going on. And some newbie at Krypton who was in charge of maintaining the website had accidentally posted Miku's address. Reporters had been trying to get a hold of Miku during the past few days, wanting to interview her.

Luka was lying on the floor as well, watching the same news. One hand held her head up and the other hand's fingers were entwined with Miku's. Gumi was a few feet behind them as she tried to come up with some sort of ending for her new song, "Blue Bird."

She was often over at Luka's apartment, even when Miku wasn't around. Miku trusted both Luka and Gumi. The green-haired girl with an affection for carrots had grown really attached to the two, and she sometimes even visited Miku in her home, despite it being quite a distance away.

There was also news flying about Gumi. Or to be more accurate, it was about her sister, Sonika Lloyd. She had broken her contract with her company and her manager had physically assaulted her. The news also said that no one knew her whereabouts, suggesting that she hadn't signed a new contract.

Gumi had not managed to reach her sister but wasn't very worried. Sonika was a smart woman. She knew what she was doing.

"Your sister's on the news again, Gumi," Luka said, and watched the younger songstress get up and join the two lovebirds watching TV. The news shifted to Gumi herself after a few moments. It was mostly talk about how J-Net had made a terrible mistake in firing Gumi and so on. There was also talk about "Bad Apple!"which was still in the top ten charts.

"I'm so sick of always being inside…" Miku was still going to school, although Luka drove her there and came to fetch her at the end of the day. Besides going to school and work, she was always at Luka's place since her own was now a constant war zone.

Neru had reacted very, very badly to the storm of reporters and fans—mostly because it had brought up some bad memories for Haku. A few reporters had gotten hurt, but they didn't learn. Miku was worried that Neru might set someone on fire if the assault on their apartment continued.

"Why did your sister go overseas, Gumi?" Luka was a bit curious about her. Sonika Lloyd was one of the bigger stars in Europe right now. But she was originally Japanese, or at least half-Japanese.

"Sonika was born in Europe while my parents lived there for a while. They left her with my uncle and aunt when they came back to Japan. They said it'd be good for her to stay in Europe. I was born here," Gumi explained and remembered the first time she had met her sister. She had been ten years old, and had real problems talking to Sonika because Sonika barely spoke any Japanese.

"My sister always wanted to be an actress, but she somehow ended up singing and modeling instead." Gumi admired her sister, but because Sonika was always overseas and so busy, Gumi didn't get to see her as much as she wanted.

"What are we gonna do about food?" Luka asked, a bit bored now. The news was over, so she switched to another channel. Some sort of robot anime was on.

"I cooked yesterday and the day before," Miku said and looked up at Gumi, who was apparently sitting on her ears.

"I get it. I'll fix some—" Luka said, and was about to get up when Miku pushed her down. "Whoa, Miku, Gumi's watching, but if you can't wait, then—"

She was interrupted yet again when Miku groaned and closed Luka's mouth with her hand. She then turned to look at Gumi to see if she'd heard that, but Gumi was staring into space.

"Gumi…_Gumi!_" Miku repeated her name a few times before the girl finally snapped out of it, a crazy blush on her face. "Are you okay? Your face is all red."

Luka freed herself and grinned diabolically. "See, Gumi got turned on by your sudden assault on me. She won't mind, so let's just—" She was again gagged by Miku's hand, who was blushing from Luka's talk.

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about my sister. I'll go and make some food." Gumi staggered off, her head still in the clouds.

Luka broke free for a second time and looked after Gumi. "What the heck was that about?"

Miku shrugged and was a bit confused. "Don't know…"

Their dinner was just pasta with some kind of cheese sauce. It was pretty good. Miku wasn't that picky, but letting Luka cook was total suicide. She'd rather cook herself every day than eat Luka's food for a single evening.

Gumi ate with them. Well, sort of. She spaced out, Luka giving her a weird looks across the table. She finally snapped out of it by the end of dinner and got back to working on her song while Luka and Miku played cards, bored.

It was getting late. Around eight in the evening, Gumi got up, looked at the clock and seemed a bit startled. She excused herself and left for her own apartment. Miku and Luka both looked after her with somewhat confused expressions.

"Gumi was acting really odd today. Maybe she's really worried about her sister after all?" Miku speculated, and earned a meaningful humming sound from Luka. "I'm tired from doing nothing all day…I'm going to bed."

"Good idea." Luka yawned loudly. How much longer would they need to hide Miku before the situation calmed down a little? Hopefully not more than one or two days. She really loved Miku, but being around each other every second of the day was a bit exhausting for both of them.

Luka got up and lumbered to the bathroom down the hallway. Miku followed her shortly after. They shared the bathroom sink while brushing their teeth with already half-closed eyes.

"This is so boring…I wanna go party…" Luke sighed. She was used to staying at home for just a day or two at most when she released a new single, but this was ridiculous. It had already been _four days_.

"No matter what they say," she said to Miku, "I'm going out. I'll disguise myself so well that nobody will notice me." Luka naturally expected Miku to object and tell her not to go.

"Good idea. I'm sick of being indoors. So. _Sick,_" Miku spat out her toothpaste and cleaned her mouth before leaving the bathroom. Luka followed about a minute later.

Miku was in the middle of changing. She didn't care anymore if Luka saw her naked or not. They usually slept with each other every night, but lately they just couldn't get in the mood, being imprisoned in there together.

Luka crawled into bed and got into her usual position, lying on her right side. Miku was right in front of her and waited for Luka to embrace her from behind. Miku had encountered problems sleeping soundly lately when sleeping alone.

Miku snuggled up to Luka and kissed her passionately. "Night."

Luka pulled her lover a little closer and replied softly. "Night."

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"Say, Rin, wanna go to the amusement park tomorrow?" Len was making lunches for the next day, busy in the kitchen, while Rin was lying lazily on the couch, quite bored with herself.

The news about Miku hadn't made her happy at all. That it was _that_ kind of song caused mixed feelings in her.

Rin had had a crush on Miku for a long time, and now that stupid Luka Megurine was getting in her way. If Miku was into girls, that upped Rin's chances with her considerably. If she was really in a relationship with Luka Megurine, Rin's chances were about zero.

Not to mention Rin was a little grumpy that she hadn't seen Miku in days. Rin went to a different school together with Len, and Miku was never at home. Rin could tell from the constant complaining of Neru about dinner.

"Yeah, why not?" Rin needed a distraction from being alone with her thoughts. Miku looked so gorgeous in that video, in that dress…Rin wished _she_ were the one singing that song with Miku..

She had not only downloaded the video to her computer, but also watched it secretly at night while touching herself. Len had no idea she was so madly in love with Miku, and he didn't need to know. He went to that coffee shop every day now anyway. It was so obvious that he had a crush on one of those waitresses. It couldn't be the giant, so it was either Drill Hair or the bitch. Rin followed him a few times but couldn't really make out which one of the two he was after.

Len only asked Rin to come to the amusement park because he didn't want to leave her behind alone. Teto, the red-haired girl in the coffee shop, had won some tickets for the amusement park in a lottery after buying a tower of bread. She had invited Len and Ritsu to go.

Len had a weird feeling that Teto knew he had a crush on Ritsu. She had told him to bring Rin along. Len didn't know how Teto knew her name or that she even existed, but he didn't ask.

"Are the two from the coffee shop going to come with you?" Rin was interested to find out which of the two girls her brother was after. Her curiosity got the better of her in times like these.

"Teto and Ritsu, yes." Len's voice made clear that he was looking forward to the little trip. Rin wasn't sure whether she should just tickle it out of Len or not. If needed she would get out the hammer. But Miku had often shown that she disliked Rin's violent nature, so Rin tried hard to work on herself and limit her actions.

"What are they like?" Rin couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Teto is… special. She's like…a wild burst of energy, or…French bread in human form. I can't decide. Always talking, always moving. She really hates it when you call her hair 'drills.' She nearly beat a customer over the head with a table once. She's insanely strong for her size, but also quite clumsy. I guess that's about it. Ritsu is…I can't really say, I haven't talked to her much. She seems really elegant and cool, though," Len said, putting some fried vegetables into lunch boxes.

Tomorrow was Saturday and since there was no school, they had all the time they wanted. He was a little worried about Ruko managing the coffee shop on her own, but he was even more excited about spending the day with Ritsu. He wondered what she would wear. That girl really tickled his fantasies.

"Who's got the bigger rack?" Rin asked and heard Len drop the lid of a box. She laughed and rolled around on the couch. "So? Which one?"

Len didn't really know what to say at that. It wasn't that he wasn't _looking_ at them. In fact, he couldn't resist looking at Teto's and Ritsu's cleavage. Teto was fairly normal—maybe a bit smaller than Miku. Ritsu's boobs looked really big under her clothes, but he couldn't tell for sure. He hoped to see more of them the next day. Ritsu surely wouldn't go to an amusement park in her waitress outfit.

"I…think Ritsu is bigger. You can't really tell with her," he said cautiously, not sure how his sister would react.

Rin was extremely touchy when someone told her or pointed out that she was as flat as Len. It often ended in violence and screaming. The twins slept in the same room, but nowadays, Len was using in-ear headphones. In the past, he had woken up sometimes at night, just to hear the heavy panting and moaning of his sister. He wasn't into that kind of thing, so it just annoyed him and embarrassed him. He knew that Rin was rubbing her own breasts every night, trying to make them bigger.

It was somewhat pitiful. Rin almost always wore tops that were a bit too big for her so people couldn't tell she was as flat as a board. It was a futile effort. Len had learned his lesson and _never_ mentioned Rin's bust size.

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Who's hotter of the two?" Rin continued to question her brother about the two girls.

"They both have their merits." Len dodged the question and started making omelettes.

Rin changed the topic, knowing she would only get more vague shit out of her brother after this. "Where do you get all that money to go to that coffee shop every day, anyway?"

Rin secretly worked a part-time job to buy herself something she dearly wanted, so she was out most of the time and didn't know what her brother was doing.

"I've started to help out in the supermarket across the street from the shop. I'm only doing stuff like filling the shelves and that sort of thing," Len explained, knowing that his sister didn't really care what he was doing, just that he had some money.

"Is that so?" Rin grew bored of the conversation. She had almost enough money to buy what she wanted. There was a long school break coming up in which the students had to focus on homework projects. Nobody would suspect her if she showed up after those three weeks.

"I'm going to go use the computer," Rin said. She left the TV on and went into their shared room where the PC was. Rin locked the door, closed the curtains, and booted up the computer, logging into her account, which was protected by a password.

There was a folder right on the desktop, called "Miku." But that wasn't what Rin was looking for. After opening a browser window, she clicked on a hidden bookmark.

The bookmark was for an online shop that sold silicone breasts. It was what Rin was saving money for.

Rin double-clicked on a specific set and looked at it again. Soon she could say goodbye to her flat chest. It was a B-cup model, but given how flat Rin was, it would look like any bigger A cup. The set was rather expensive—it cost six thousand yen—but it was really high quality. Rin had done her homework on this. She could wear them even with a swimsuit, as long as it wasn't a bikini.

Len would probably notice, but she knew he wouldn't tell a soul. He knew she would kill him if he did. But for now, she didn't have quite enough. She was still one thousand yen short.

Clearing her history, hiding the bookmark in a different place and closing the browser, she opened her Miku folder. There were over one thousand images in there. She looked intently at a few new ones—promotional art from her single "Love Is War" and some screenshots from the PV for "Magnet."

Len knocked on the door. "I'm making dinner now," he called. He didn't care what she did behind locked doors, but he could very well imagine.

Rin was moaning softly when Len put a pot full of water on the stove.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Gumi had no idea what was going on anymore. It was two in the morning and someone was ringing the doorbell to her apartment.

Gumi, with wild bed hair, droopy eyes, and one huge yawn, opened the door, only to find her sister on her doorstep—drunk and looking pretty roughed up, yet happily singing nonsensical songs to herself.

From there, things went out of control. Sonika staggered into her apartment without any bags or suitcases. She had nothing at all with her except a big bottle of cheap booze in her hand. Her hair was as chaotic as Gumi's, and her pupils were wide. She was more than just "somewhat drunk."

Gumi followed her sister, who was astonishingly quick considering how drunk she was, into her room, where Sonika fell onto Gumi's bed.

"Sonika, what in the world happened?" Gumi was a bit alarmed. Her sister was really bad with alcohol.

"Your sister had a little drinkkk!" The woman blurted out, and almost threw up while doing so.

Gumi quickly fetched the bottle from her sister's hands. It was some kind of strong whiskey. But before Gumi knew what was going on, Sonika had gotten up and had wrapped both arms around Gumi's neck. Her face was so close, Gumi felt like she was getting drunk from her alcohol-drenched breath.

"You've gotten really cute, Gumi…"

Gumi felt like she was paralyzed when her sister kissed her without any regard for Gumi's will or objections. Gumi's face started to shine a bright red. Sonika lost her balance and fell back in the bed, dragging Gumi down with her, refusing to let go.

"I was soooo lonely…" Gumi lost all self-control when her sister whispered those words into her ear.

~~~ End of Chapter VI ~~~


	7. Oranges and Carrots

A/N: Since I have hellish bad luck with picking / finding editors, I'm going to release HMS and LSS without editor for now.

**Hear my Song!**

**Chapter VII**

_Oranges and Carrots_

Gumi slowly crawled out of bed, aching all over. That had been one **really** tiring night. Walking through the room completely naked was not something she did often. And she wouldn't, if not for the blanket being preoccupied, being claimed by her sister completely for herself.

Her sister, Sonika Lyoid, had showed up all of a sudden the last night; and had immediately revived old, bad habits. Ever since she was little, Gumi had had a crush on her sister, and Sonika saw no reason to deny her the little pleasure of sleeping with her whenever she saw her little sister.

Gumi realized with the years how bad this kind of thing was. Incest was frowned upon by many, even if between sisters, and she lacked the resolve to say no to Sonika. One touch, one whisper, and her heart was melting like chocolate in the sun.

Gumi cursed her luck when someone knocked on the door and a annoyingly familiar voice called for her. "Why does she have to get up this early... what, it's past ten already?" Gumi, with catastrophic bed hair and generally a bit droopy looking, put on some random clothes she picked up from the ground and opened the door.

She immediately broke out in laughter. Miku had put her hair in a high ponytail and wore a cap and sunglasses while Luka was actually wearing a blond wig and colored contacts. She still knew it was Luka. Nobody else would try to grope their girlfriend in the open like that while waiting for someone to open the door.

"Luka and I are going out. The town, maybe the amusement park. Wanna... what happened to _you_?" Miku was a bit baffled. She knew Gumi was not a morning person, but this was a bit heavy, even for her.

The clothes she wore were several numbers too big, she wasn't wearing a bra, and looked generally like Luka after a full party night, which meant she looked pretty awful.

"You look a little roughed up." Miku commented and tried to spy past Gumi into the small apartment.

"Queen of understatements." Luka teased her girlfriend and simply let herself in, despite Gumi's eager but futile attempts to block the way.

"Aha! Got yourself some company I see. It all makes sense now." Luka grinned wide and remembered Gumi being on cloud seven the evening before.

"Just. Get. Out." Gumi pushed Luka out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut. "That's none of your business!" Gumi seemed oddly angry, so Luka decided not to push it. She didn't want to get scolded by Miku.

Leaving the apartment, a tired out and exhausted Gumi saw them off at the door. "I'll stay home today. I had a long night." Luka gave her a knowing smile and Gumi's face turned bright red. Although the diva didn't know who it was, she was sure that she had seem someone in Gumi's bed.

"We'll see you later. Or tomorrow. Bye bye, Gumi." Miku waved and pulled Luka away before she could barge her way in again.

Gumi closed the door, exhaled deeply and leaned against the wall. She would never, ever, hear the end of this if Luka caught wind that she was sleeping with her own sister. That was in the case Luka was going to talk to her at all after learning that.

"Who was that?" Sonika, with the same catastrophic bed hair as Gumi, poked her head out of the bed.

"Friends of mine. They work with me." Gumi sat down on the bed and Sonika hugged her from behind. "Nobody can find out about us. We'll both lose our jobs and friends. It's our secret love." Sonika kissed Gumi on the neck, but the younger sister moved away.

"We shouldn't be doing this anymore. It's... I don't want to say it's wrong, but I can't handle the pressure of hiding who I love." Gumi was a honest girl that didn't like to lie, not to anyone. And sleeping with her own sister was a constant lie, to herself and everyone else.

"Thats what you say every time." Sonika grabbed Gumi's wrist and pulled her closer. Their faces were only inches apart when Sonika blew some air on Gumi's neck, making her little sister moan with pleasure. "And this is what always happens."

Sonika pushed Gumi down and kissed her passionately. Gumi's face was blazing red as she wrapped her arms around her sisters neck and moved her left leg between Sonika's.

"I love you, Sis." Gumi whispered.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Rin? Rin, wake up." Len leaned over Rin, who was so fast asleep that she seemed dead to a normal person. He was already dressed up and had made breakfast and cleaned the living room among other things.

He had learned to deal with this over the years. When Rin simply wouldn't wake up, there were a few sure fire ways to make her. The first was the best, and that was food. Rin was a glutton, and as soon as the apartment smelled like breakfast, she usually appeared at the table, like a hungry animal.

The other way was... well... The traditional bucket of cold water worked real wonders, even if only used as threat. In any case, the scent of hot toast, eggs and bacon filled the air of the apartment and Rin slowly came to, waking from her trance.

"You might want to put on some clothes." Len said, averted his eyes and left the room. He knew exactly what his sister was doing, what was going on. He would have to be denser than a black hole to not notice. When someone starts moaning 'Miku, Miku' in the middle of the night, there wasn't much room for speculating. Especially if said someone woke up **completely** naked.

Truth be told, he was more than just a little weirded out bis this. Liking girls, he could deal with that. Liking Miku, he could understand that. But making a huge secret out of it and then failing to keep it an actual secret, that made really no sense to him. Heck, if anything, he could have helped her out. But he was afraid of Rin finding out what he knew.

Rin was a lot denser than he was in that aspect. She wasn't suspecting anything, no matter how many suspicious things she did right under Len's nose.

Rin grabbed some clothes from the ground and started to get dressed. Len had long given up on picking up Rin's clothes, so they were always where she left them. Half walking and half tumbling, Rin went into the kitchen.

Len was not even looking at her. Rin was a little weirded out that Len didn't care a cent when he saw his sister naked, but ever since she had found out that her brother was into the whole goth loli thing, she had given up on him being a normal person.

"Eat your breakfast, then get yourself ready. I don't want the others to wait." Len finished up his breakfast and picked up his backpack, which contained their lunch boxes. This was his big chance to impress the girl he liked.

"Yeah yeah. Don't get your dick in a knot, you won't be late for your little dream date." Rin was even more foul mouthed than usual in the morning and this morning was even worse than usual.

Len rolled eyes and kept his response to himself. He knew, that if Rin would get the chance to go on a date with Miku, she would double and triple check everything, probably spend hours picking an outfit and so on. Whenever Miku was involved, Rin seemed like a different person.

Rin munched away at her breakfast and pulled herself up and into the bathroom, where a few minutes later the shower started to make noises. Despite moving the big mirror on the wall away into a corner of the living room, Rin was still reminded of her flat chest every time she walked past that spot.

She was feeling a bit sore. Someone on a board dedicated to the Krypton stars had photo shopped a picture of Miku into a nude version. Rin had spend the better deal of the evening on the PC because of that. But the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed to her that Miku was actually having a relationship with Luka. It really bothered her, then Luka was everything she wasn't. Tall, long hair, big breasts. Especially the breasts part made Rin furious.

A good half hour later, Rin was finally assembled and out together, ready to go out. They still had twenty minutes to meet the other two down the street at the coffee shop. Len was wearing some black trousers, sneakers, a sleeveless shirt and a black chemise with flames on it. Even Rin had to admit that he looked pretty nice. For a guy.

Rin was wearing white sneakers, black socks, orange shorts and a black shirt, with a pseudo jacket that was also orange over the shirt. A small bag on her girdle doubled as wallet and the outfit was complete by a wrist watch that Len made her wear. Her ribbon, one of her standard accessories, had just been washed and wasn't in any condition to being worn so she left it.

"Let's go, before you go and decide you aren't looking cool enough." Rin was a bit in a fowl mood because she had a weird and erotic dream the last night. It was about Miku, Luka and herself, which really pissed her off. By the time she woke up, she felt incredibly horny and annoyed. Rin was still feeling that way when they met up with their dates a few minutes later.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Okay, how exactly. **How exactly**, did our free day and sneak out attempt turn into... into... **this**!" Miku was annoyed and past her limit of what she usually put up with, and her curiosity didn't let her object anymore than saying she hated it.

Luka put a finger to her mouth and pushed her down. They were hiding behind a big car on the other side of the street. Luka, being the catastrophe she was, had started speculating who Gumi was sleeping with. Which lead to them stalking her.

"There they come!" Luka took cover and spied at the girl. Jackpot. The other girl, or guy, was with her. Luka almost forgot to breathe when she saw who exactly was with her.

"Miku, was there _anyone else_ in that apartment?" Luka asked in a quiet voice, unable to stop starring at Gumi and her escort.

"No. I didn't see anyone. But I do think something is not right here. Thats... you know." Miku rubbed her eyes, not sure whether she was hallucinating or not.

"Yeah. I mean... we have to be... or not? Is she seriously...?" Luka didn't know what to say either, which was every bit as surprising to Miku as what she was seeing.

Gumi walked right next to the very same woman they had seen on the evening news the day before, Sonia Lyoid. Miku was sure there was a perfectly fine explanation for this, there always was one.

"Let's go after them!" Luka was up and about to follow Gumi and her sister when Miku held her back.

"You can't just... stalk them!" Miku really wanted to know but her conscience was telling her to stop.

"Don't you wanna know? I mean, if it's what it looks like, then-" Luka's face was sort of scaring Miku. It was so full of curiosity that Miku thought she would explode if she didn't go.

"There's gotta be an explanation for that. I don't think Gumi is sleeping with her sister." Miku shook her head but blushed heavily when she actually imagined Gumi and Sonika. They did look good together.

"And to get that explanation we're gonna follow them!" Luka pulled Miku with her and barely caught sight of the couple in question going into a side street. Miku was still a little worried about this. Luka made her do a lot of things she didn't really agree with, but this was a little... but she wanted to know. So badly. In the end, curiosity won over her conscience.

"They're holding hands!" Luka whispered when she looked around the corner.

"They're sisters, that doesn't mean a thing. Haku and Neru do it too, and they're only cousins." Miku interjected, still looking for a logical explanation to all of this.

"They're.. wow." Luka grabbed Miku a bit too violently on her wrist and pulled her closer, so she could see around the corner. It was a narrow sideway between two buildings. Miku almost couldn't trust her eyes, looking at the sisters.

Sonika had pushed Gumi against the wall of the left building and was kissing her. Judging from how Gumi's chest was moving, quite passionately too. Miku blushed a little bit, again, and felt a little disturbed. She was open to a lot of things, but incest was a little difficult to accept.

Luka and Miku pulled back when Sonika looked around if anyone was watching them. The pink haired woman was panting and the younger girl next to her was half lost in thought. "I know it's not exactly right, but damn, thats hot." Luka said and took a cautious peek. They were still there.

"She shoved her hand under Gumi's top. Are they planning to get it on in there? Man, that woman is good." Luka actually admired how bold Sonika was, while her talk made Miku a little annoyed.

"They shouldn't do that. Thats not really... okay." Miku was a bit more open than most about such things, but this was still...

"Why not? Gumi told us they didn't grow up together. I can sort of understand her. And it's not like they're gonna have kids. I don't see what's so bad about this." Luka looked at Miku and sort of expected an answer. Apparently, she was fine with everything if romance was involved. But well, that was just how Luka was.

"I don't know, okay? It's just... why her sister of all people? It'll be a scandal." Miku was considering how the public would take this if it leaked.

"The same could be said about us two. I don't think we're in any position to judge her for this." Luka gave Miku a knowing look and saw the girl defeated in her own game.

"Why is it that you only win at arguments that concern sex and romance?" Miku complained and couldn't resist taking another peek. They were **still** there and making out. Gumi had laid both her arms around Sonika's neck while her older sister's hand was caressing her breasts.

"Gumi is not gonna keep this up much longer. Just look at how hard she breathes." Luka grinned and earned a scolding look from Miku.

But she was right. Sonika's other hand vanished into Gumi's pants seconds later and made her sister moan, which were quickly silenced by a deep kiss. Luka pulled back and so did Miku. Any more of this, and she wouldn't be able to control herself.

"If you really think it's wrong, you need to talk to Gumi." Luka got up and hold one hand out to Miku, helping her up. But of them were a little flushed and red in the face. They had both seen Gumi naked, kissed her... but this was really, really different. "But it's her decision. If she wants to have an relationship with her sister, I am okay with it."

"Maybe you're right. It's her life. I hope she's gonna tell us. I don't want to tell her we went and stalked her." Miku felt guilty now, but not enough to really regret it. She thought for a second that Luka was corrupting her a little.

"Anyway, let's go and see where they go. I wanna know more." Luka had that shine from earlier back in her eyes but Miku had enough.

"If you really wanna do this, you can do it alone Luka. I'm not stalking my friends anymore than this. If she wants us to know, she is gonna tell us. I'm done." Miku turned around and walked away, leaving a perplexed Luka behind.

It took a few seconds for Luka to register that Miku was really mad at her for doing this. Looking a bit worried she could agree with herself that maybe she overdid it a little. Stalking people was a crime after all. To add to that, Gumi probably hid this for a reason from them.

Miku was already a few streets away when Luka caught up with her. They looked at each other in silence, Miku obviously angry and Luka a bit concerned. Miku didn't say anything. She was about as guilty as Luka on this.

They walked quietly next to each other, in no particular direction. "Can we stop punishing each other with silence now?" Luka asked after about ten minutes had passed. Miku rolled eyes and sighed but took Luka's hand as if to say okay.

"We shouldn't have done this. But we went into it together, so I guess we have to clean the mess up together." Something caught Miku's attention from the corner of her eye and she lead Luka to it's source. "I'm not sure if we should really tell her we know."

Luka was a little confused where Miku was pulling her. "Well.. we could say we saw them together or some such. I know you don't like lying, but in this case, it'll hurt her only more if we tell her the truth." Luka had some experience with things like that. Always telling the truth wasn't the best course of action.

"You're right. Let's go there."Pointing at a pamphlet on a wall, Miku simply agreed to Luka, who was so shocked by that turn of events that she spaced out for a moment.

"I'm right? I thought I'd never hear that from you!" Luka grinned and watched as Miku looked into her eyes and flicked her forehead.

"That's because it happens so rarely, it's a borderline wonder of the modern world." Miku had learned how to effectively tease her partner. Luka started to sulk a little and looked at the pamphlet on the wall that Miku had pointed at.

It was a advertisement for a local amusement park. Luka had been there before a few times, and it was a rather nice park, if a bit expensive. "You want to go there?"

"You don't?" Miku's household had always been a little pressed for money, so she had never had the chance to go to many parks or some such.

"I like to go anywhere as long as you are there." Luka said and tightened her grip on Miku's hand, making the girl giggle and smile.

"You really do have your way with words." She took a breather and lightened up a bit. The Gumi thing was up and done, nothing they could do about it now. "Then I'll have you accompany me." Miku said with a bright smile before they took off together.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Is all of this really necessary?" Sonika was putting on a large white sun hat and some tinted glasses. Gumi had changed to a longer hairstyle, wearing a hair extension she had bought the other day. Gumi had become really worried after her sister started to make a move on her the moment they were outside. Right after Sonika was satisfied, which was no sooner than Gumi reaching orgasm and sinking to her knees, they headed back into Gumi's apartment.

"It is. I don't want people to recognize us. Even more so than usual. It'll be a total catastrophe if anyone knew we're sleeping with each other." Gumi was now wearing her hair open like Luka usually did, and it was about the same length too. Changing her clothes up a little, she looked like a totally different person.

"You look nice with long hair. Ever thought about growing it out?" Sonika was not so much changed, but not many Japanese people recognized her anyway. She was more of a overseas star and not that famous in japan.

"It won't grow that long." Gumi said with a red face. The slightest compliment from her sister made her blush. It had always been that way. Ever since they first started to make out with each other.

"Who were the two girls that showed up earlier? Friends? One of them your girlfriend?" Sonika teased her little sister a little and watched her defend herself a little too eagerly.

"People I know from work. You know I won't get a girlfriend or boyfriend. I could never stand it. Not when I have you." Gumi looked a little lonely saying that.

"What will do you if I get a boyfriend? Or marry?" Sonika was not anywhere as fixated on Gumi as her little sister was on her. It was sometimes a bit worrying. Sonika wasn't planning to be in a illicit relationship with her own sister forever. Only until she met mister perfect.

"Don't even joke about that." Gumi said in a real snappy and angry tone and put on her boots.

"Are you coming? You were the one that wanted to go to the amusement park so badly this morning." Gumi was a little angry that her sister was constantly teasing her. She was worse than Luka.

"Sure. You look hot in this getup." Sonika made her sister blush again. "But we already had sex twice this morning, so it's okay." Sonika leaned down and blew some air on Gumi's neck and whispered in her ear. "But this evening I'm gonna make you feel good..."

Gumi left her apartment, followed by Sonika, with a bright red face and a loss for words. Thank god Miku and Luka had not caught her with her sister. They wouldn't understand. She was like a different person when Sonika was around, living almost exclusively for her.

"You don't own a car?" Sonika looked a little annoyed when Gumi headed in the direction for the sub station.

"Cars are expensive. And you get there with the sub much faster than with the car. This isn't Europe or America, sis." Gumi explained and took her sister hand. "Your Japanese is still good though. Are you secretly practicing?"

Sonika laughed and shook her head. "No, not really. It's in my blood I guess. How else would I be able to talk to my adorable little sister? Although I do sometimes watch a few anime to remember things." Sonika tried to remember some things she watched, but Gumi was probably not into that sort of thing anyway.

One thing really worried her though. Gumi had grown more and more dependent on her over the past few years. Or more specifically, her love. Sonika had met and gone out with a few men in Europe but none of them were really what she was looking for. She had dated a lesbian in her business for three weeks before they separated because of work and never found the time to get back to each other.

It was nice to have a sister that loved her, and she really did love Gumi as well, but this kinda relationship wasn't going to last forever. Gumi was almost an adult now, and should look for her own romance. Sonika had no idea how to even begin telling her that. Gumi wouldn't listen to such things.

Not to mention, she could only really stay in japan for limited amounts of time before her work called for her. And she was not really at home there. Her home was Europe, thousands of miles away. Despite all of this, Gumi was clinging to her like this. Sonika liked it, but knew that it wouldn't hold. Gumi apparently didn't share that thought. Which was problematic.

But that was still in the future. For now, she would have fun and most of all, plenty of sex with her sister. When all was said and done, Gumi had a really nice body and was amazing in bed. Nobody she had ever slept with came even closer. She sort of envied her future boy or girlfriend.

"What are you thinking about?" Gumi asked after a while and was a little surprised when Sonika looked at her with lust filled eyes.

"About this morning and your cute, little moans." Sonika answered and grinned. Gumi was always embarrassed about these things and it was her pleasure to tease her about it.

"Your breasts were a lot smaller the last time I saw you. They're really nice." Sonika had a little fetish for breasts and Gumi knew about it too well. She would fondle and caress them for ages at times.

"Stop it." Gumi's voice was so shallow that Sonika couldn't help but smile. It was so fun to tease her.

Nobody recognized them, and beside the usual stares two girls holding hands got, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Gumi's conscience nagged on her though. Luka and Miku had come forward and told her about their relationship. It seemed a little unfair to them to keep Sonika a secret.

She had never told anyone, but if anyone would understand, then those two. But it was still a risk. In the end, Gumi decided against telling them. At least not now. Maybe... some day. Gumi's thoughts switched to something else when the train came and they got on, good on their way to the amusement park.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Teto was really cute today, he had to admit. Light-blue jeans, a bland black tank top with a pink tank top on top of the black one. Her hair was done differently from usual. The drills were less extreme than usual and closer to her head. All in all, she looked plenty cute. The tank top was showing off her cleavage. Teto must be really close to a C cup if she wasn't one. Len felt a little hot starring at her bust.

Ritsu was completely different from Teto in fashion sense. Len was about to do the classic anime nose bleed, just looking at her. Wearing a corset-like top that really showed off her, now confirmed, large breasts. It was black and several laces were going over her chest, pushing her breasts tightly together. Accompanied by that was a short skirt, not quite a mini skirt but well in that direction, that was completely black. It was a very out-going goth loli costume.

Rin's left eye twitched with each look back. Len's eyes were like glued to Ritsu and Teto was hopelessly trying to find a common topic to talk to her. Rin wasn't exactly fond of bread. Or French bread. Or bakeries. Or EXILED. She found Teto to be a little annoying. But what really pissed her off was how Len was hanging on Ritsu's lips. Well, at least metaphorically. His eyes were fixated elsewhere.

They had walked like this, Rin and Teto next to each other in the front and Len with Ritsu in the back, for the last twenty minutes. Rin was starting to make sounds like a pot that was about to melt from the boiling water. But thank god they were finally there.

Everyone paid their entry fee and entered the park. This lot had been vacant for years, ever since the second world war. A while ago, a big group bought the land from the government for cheap and build an amusement park there.

Ritsu and Rin had not talked a single word yet, but they each had detected the odd vibes the other one was giving off. It was like two beasts in disguise that recognized each other by smell instead of sight. Rin didn't say anything but was on guard. What against, she wasn't really sure.

"What are we gonna do first?" The four of them were standing in a small circle, trying to decide in which direction they should heed. Teto was the one making suggestions and ruling out places because they'd be overrun with people at this time. "How about the ghost house?" Teto was giving both Ritsu and Len a lewd look.

"I like that idea." Ritsu agreed and showed a split second of weakness and smirked. Teto was horrible with scary stuff, and that Rin girl didn't look like she was good with it either. Generally, this girl was weird. Ritsu almost thought her a guy if not for her voice.

Len was sweating a little. The idea of Ritsu being all scared and clinging to him was setting his mind and other parts on fire, but **he** was terrible with scary stuff, not Rin. But he absolutely couldn't show that to Ritsu. So how would he get out of that?

"I prefer the roller coaster. This one. We should go now, it'll be crowded later." Rin pointed at the white roller coaster that had big exclamation marks on it. It was being praised as the 'fastest and most powerful coaster in japan'. Len felt a few important things drop an inch when he thought about getting on that.

"I'm in favor of that too!" Teto agreed. So it was all up to Len now. He thought about splitting up, but Rin would probably do something horrible if he left her alone with Teto. Rin wasn't so great with people she barely knew or didn't know at all.

"L-Look, the ghost house is right on the way to the coaster. We could do one after the other." What the fuck was he saying? Why was he smiling like some suicidal idiot? Did something in his head break after starring at Ritsu's boobs too much?

"I didn't know you were such an action fan Len." Rin knew exactly how bad he was with scary stuff. She took a roller coaster ride with such ease that Len used to call her the roller coaster demon. Well, that was stuff of the past. But that smirk on Rin's face... that wasn't good. Len tried not to go pale by the sheer thought of it and nervously turned around, pointing in the direction of the ghost house.

"L-Lets go." Len said and took a few steps before waiting for the others.

"You're shaking. Are you okay?" Ritsu wrapped her arms around Len's arm and pulled him so close that he could literally feel her boobs moving in that dress. A 'boing' movement with every step.

"I'm just shaking with excitement. I love roller coasters and stuff." Len's inner voice was about to pack it's seven things and leave before he went down the road of certain doom.

"You're so brave, I like that." Ritsu knew exactly what she had to say to make him do exactly what she wanted.

"He's shaking." Rin said and pointed at the nervous Len in front of her and Teto. The red haired girl nodded and smiled.

"Yup, he's shaking. And he's such a bad liar." Teto was amazingly sharp when it came to such things. There were a few other things she was sharp about as well, but they were less important right now. With a single exception. "I guess you're stuck with me for the day. Sorry if I bore you." Teto was a considerate fellow, that was conscious about some of her flaws.

"I didn't really care for this arrangement. I'm just here to enjoy the rides. Don't mind me, 'kay?" Rin didn't pay much attention to Teto until the drill hair girl grabbed Rin's hand and refused to let go, even after Rin shook her arm a few times violently. "Uhm... what are you doing?" Rin didn't hate it. Teto's hand was warm and soft. But it was more than just a little forceful.

"Holding hands. I don't really care if you're straight, bi or gay, so we're holding hands. You said 'don't mind me' after all. So I don't!" Teto, all smart, sharp and conscious of her faults, had still the weirdest logic in the world. Rin was so taken off by her reasoning that she sighed and let it go. It wasn't worth the effort. They were just holding hands after all.

"Do you always dress like this?" Teto was a little curious about Rin. They were both watching the two lovebirds in front while talking. It was quite amusing how the older and mature Ritsu was leading Len around, making him believe he was leading her.

"What do you mean, like this?" Rin's touchy subject. The only reason she looked like a guy in these clothes was because she was flat. Flatter than a board. And short. If only she was five centimeters taller. In both dimensions.

"I like your fashion sense. Your clothes fit together well and they give a warm feeling. I bet you could get into a hot disco like this." Teto was older than Rin, although the only major difference between them was their bust size, if bodies compared. And Teto had somehow dodged a very delicate question.

Rin was so surprised that she blushed a little. Teto didn't say 'Like a guy' at all, and even complimented her. It was rare that someone had to say something good about her looks.

"Have you thought about wearing a ribbon in your hair? I'm sure you'd look really cute like that." Teto was not working as waitress for nothing. She knew exactly how to involve someone in a conversation once she found some common ground.

"Actually, I usually wear one, but it wasn't usable today. Wouldn't fit with this stuff anyway." They had reached the ghost house and Ritsu and Len went in, looking like Ritsu was glued to his arm.

"Let's do that too." Teto said and grinned.

"I hadn't planned on skipping the ride, really." Rin was looking a little confused.

Teto grabbed Rin's arm and imitated Ritsu and Len. Rin's face took a slight red at the sensation of feeling Teto's boobs through her clothes. It wasn't a bad feeling at all. She was in love with Miku, but this kind of thing wasn't so bad either. "If you want. I usually almost sleep through those." Rin had assumed that it was one of those rides where you entered a small cart, sat down and watched as scary stuff passed. But this was different.

The Villa of Crimson Night was a four level building which visitors could freely roam through. There were some closed doors that only employees and staff had access to, but there were no signs, it was very realistic. However, that meant that she would have to walk around the whole time. That Teto was almost hanging on her wasn't making this anymore comfortable.

Ritsu let out a small cry when a skeleton fell from the celling and pressed her chest against Len's side. The guy didn't know from what he should faint too. The soft sensation or the scary place. He really was terrible with scary stuff and Ritsu dragged him all over the place. And yet he couldn't do as much as scream. It was a real ordeal.

They had finally reached the top level after another set of stairs. Len's nerves were worn out already and Ritsu headed to the furthest back, where it was completely pitch black and they had to watch their step. She finally let go of Len and leaned against a black wall, her dress almost merging with the darkness in this place.

Len, not really sure what to do, was simply standing there like an idiot until Ritsu rolled her eyes and pulled his arm. His mind was a roller coaster already. 'What, what was she doing? This was... that, right? She wants to make out in this place. Did I brush my teeth? Dammit, I never kissed anyone. I hope she doesn't notice I'm-' His thoughts were interrupted by fireworks when Ritsu forcefully kissed him and pulled him even closer.

Len wrapped his arms around her waist, albeit pretty amateurish, and kissed her back, even more amateurish. Ritsu quickly broke out of the kiss and gave him a certain look. "Try it more like this." She said and kissed Len again, showing off her kissing technique for Len to copy.

Len wasn't very quick to pick it up but managed after a few more tries. He was worried he was looking like a total idiot in her eyes and he wanted to just go home. At least that was what his head and his reason were saying. The bulge in his pants was saying something completely different.

They spend a few more minutes kissing, Len not knowing what to do with his hands, moving them from her back to her neck, back to her back, and all over the place until Ritsu started to get annoyed. Still kissing, she grabbed his right hand and pulled it down to her right tight, under her skirt.

Len panicked a bit and didn't know what to do, being a total amateur on this field. Ritsu pretended to gasp for air and whispered something in his ear. Len tried to relax a little, but that was hardly possible in this situation. But at least his instincts started to take over. He started caressing Ritsu's tight and his other hand finally moved to her big chest, gently groping her boobs. Ritsu let out a little moan before she started to kiss him again.

And Len's eyes were on fire. A flashlight was directed at them by one of the security personnel. "You can't do that here. Out." He was not very amused by activities of the two. Ritsu simply giggled and grabbed Len's hand, both of them running away with bright red faces.

Rin was all but bored. Teto, while not exactly a scaredy cat, was doing her best to scare Rin. Which worked very well. A few steps after they had walked around in the dark, Teto pretended to fall. Rin leaned down out of reflex and Teto grabbed her hand, pulling her down, right on top of her. Rin's face was flushed. It was more sexual harassment than scaring, but it worked on Rin.

By the time they reached the third floor, Rin's heart was beating like the engine of car that was running way past it's limit and she absolutely refused to lean, grab or hold anything, much less stand closer to Teto than absolutely necessary.

And then Teto vanished. Rin suddenly felt pretty scared. From which side would the attack come? What would she do? And she didn't see the attack coming. Two slender arms, much stronger than she imagined them to be, wrapped around her waist from behind. Rin shuddered and gasped when Teto blew hot air in her ear. The red haired girl let go and started laughing, while Rin was standing a few meters away, catching her breath and thoughts.

She could deal with rude people, with dumb people, with annoying people, with sadists, with trolls, with so much, but this girl... was too much! Rin didn't know how to deal with her. Rin looked around, trying to find the exit, wanting to get out of this attraction as fast as possible.

"Wait, it's okay, I'm done. You're really easy to tease, you know? Nobody else I play those jokes on takes them seriously or is really bothered." Teto's face was bright red. She was taking Rin's reaction as compliment. Most people simply saw her as French bread crazed girl with one screw loose too many.

Rin didn't really know what to say and instead punched Teto on the shoulder. "Don't do that again. I don't like it when people cling to me like that." Rin was lying. Lying like a trooper. She had gotten so horny by Teto's playing around, she would have preferred to go somewhere quiet and 'calm down' in her own way.

Teto grabbed Rin's hand and stopped her from walking away. It wasn't difficult to spot how horny Rin was, even in this dim light. Her face, her body gestures. Teto wasn't really planning on dating her or anything, but it had been a while since she last made out with anyone. And Rin wasn't exactly a bad deal, even if she was terribly flat. And she had gotten damn horny too.

"What now?" Rin was really wanting to get out of there before Teto pulled any more weird stuff. She was into girls alright, Teto was looking pretty good and she seemed to be able to avoid Rin's delicate points, but right now, she was really annoying.

Teto said nothing and pulled Rin forcefully with her. To her own surprise, Rin didn't resist much. She had kind of an idea what Teto wanted now and her body was lusting for touch. It would also be the first time she got to touch another girls boobs. Rin felt how the excitement got the better of her.

Teto looked around for a second and found what she was looking for. A big coffin that was leaned against the wall. Teto pulled Rin behind the coffin and could barely keep her hands off her. She waited a few seconds, standing still, her hands wrapped around Rin's neck, waiting to see if Rin was okay with this. She got her answer when the blond girl quickly grabbed both of Teto's boobs and started to grope her.

Rin had never really kissed anyone, but she wasn't one of those people that were all worried about where their first kiss went. Giving it to Teto might have been a little random on her part, but it was an especially nice kiss. Teto really knew what she was doing and lead Rin a little on. Rin took the kissing one step further when she pushed Teto against the wall, and her tongue into Teto's mouth.

Teto resisted the urge to try and grope Rin. The girl had obviously a complex about her breasts. She was always starring at Ritsu and hers. Teto moved her hands to Rin's butt instead and slid her hands under her pants. Teto was wondering how far she could go with Rin before the unexperienced girl would get scared.

But Rin didn't have any intention of stopping. Her hands were already under Teto's top and touching the silky cloth of her bra. Rin was very jealous of her to be able to wear something like that, to feel it on her skin. She enjoyed it when Teto started to moan.

Teto was so horny, she could have had sex with Rin on the spot, but that was probably a very, very bad idea. Teto restrained herself from going any further than making out and instead enjoyed the hot make out session by giving her younger partner another French kiss.

"Damn teenagers everywhere! Hey you! Out of here before I call security!" Someone was blinding both of them with a flashlight. Rin almost literally jumped away from Teto and walked away very quickly. Her heart was beating like a pneumatic drill and her head was feeling funny. This was how it felt to make out with another girl? Rin couldn't wait to repeat this, even if it was just Teto. But the soft feeling of her boobs... Rin caught herself almost drooling.

Teto had finally caught up, having had problems to fix her clothes. They were still a little chaotic, but at least she managed to keep her bra in place, so nobody saw that she was running around with stiff nipples. She didn't expect Rin to go with the flow like that.

And how those things go, Rin and Teto met up with a panting Ritsu and Len outside.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Gumi was feeling like she had just jumped off a building. The roller coaster was a death machine. Sonika had been cheering and yelling the whole ride, getting off more excited than when she got on, but Gumi was not the type to like fancy rides like that. They had stopped at one of the many stands to get some ice cream and were now sitting on a bench, resting. At least Gumi was.

"Lets do that right again, okay?" Sonika had always been like that, as far as Gumi could remember. Brave, maybe even a little bit reckless, fearless and always up for new challenges. Gumi looked up to her sister a lot and even though she knew she could never become like Sonika, she did wish for it a little bit.

"I-I'll wait down here... I'm not good with this stuff." Gumi shyly waved her hand and looked in another direction. She was fine with most other things, but stuff like roller coasters were a bit much.

"Ah, thats no fun. Let's go to the waters slide next then." Sonika was taking Gumi from one speedy ride to the next. She wasn't the type that would enjoy a merry go round or something like that. Gumi on the other hand enjoyed those quite a bit, but this was a rare chance to go to an amusement park with her sister, so she didn't say anything.

Gumi simply nodded and continued to lick her ice slowly. Slow enough to waste enough time for her stomach to put itself back up after that hazardous ride on the roller coaster. They were sitting not too far from the ghost house, and Gumi thought how nice it'd be to go there with Sonika. Her sister wasn't bad with scary things, and neither was she, but it would still be nice.

"Hey, look at them!" Sonika pointed at a group of two couples. Two red haired girls and two blond guys had just met up in front of the ghost house, all of them out of breath and their faces flushed. Gumi found that so adorable. From their looks, the guys couldn't be older than around fourteen. But the girls were clearly a bit older.

"Isn't that one cute?" Sonika pointed at the guy that was standing right next to the red haired girl with the drill hair. "He looks a bit too girly, though."

Gumi had never met either Len or Rin before, so she didn't recognize them. To her, they were just strangers. "A bit too girly? Isn't... that a girl?" Gumi was pointing at Rin and looked a little confused. If it was a girl, she wasn't much of it.

"You think so? But just look at how he's looking at drill hair next to him." Sonika smirked and Gumi noticed the lewd looks Rin was shooting Teto. She found it a little embarrassing to watch them like this.

"Let's follow them, I'm curious now." Sonika really had some very bad habits. That stalking people like that was a crime didn't seem to bother her at all.

Gumi wanted to object but Sonika was already dragging her along. They walked a good ten meters behind Len's group, to avoid being discovered. But that was hardly an issue. There were lots and lots of people walking with them, all in the same direction.

The direction they were headed to wasn't towards the roller coaster at all. It was towards the party water slide. A wild water adventure attraction where people sat together in some sort of ring shaped boat and went down an artificial wild water river. To Sonika, it was obvious where this was going. It was impossible to stay dry on a ride like that, and wet clothes meant only one thing to pubescent boys!

"Sis, I bet you're thinking something only an old man would think." Gumi recognized the dirty look in her sisters eyes and got a bad feeling about it.

"Say Gumi, how is your work at Krypton?" It was still some distance to walk and Sonika had yet to ask Gumi any personal stuff. It wasn't that she didn't care but rather, she cared so much, she was afraid of hurting Gumi by bringing up her recent career.

"It's really nice. I have some really, really weird co-workers that invited me to the agency, but they're also really nice to me. Everyone seems to be a bit more relaxed there than at J-Net. " Gumi's face was shining with a bright smile when she talked about it. It was so obvious that she was happy working there.

"You got anyone with a special interest in you?" Sonika was always all about romance and affairs. Asking Gumi about her love life was no different. She wanted to know. She needed to know. She was curious!

"You are my special interest Sis." Gumi almost whispered it and the words were lost in the noise from people around them talking as well. "I don't think anyone got a crush on me." Gumi thought if it was okay to mention that Luka and Miku, her co-workers, were in a relationship, but she decided against it.

"Thats so boring. They all have no taste if they ignore my cute, lil' Gumi." Sonika grabbed her sisters hand and pulled her a little closer, forcing a slight blush on Gumi's face. "Would you prefer a girl or a guy?" Sonika knew that she had influenced Gumi a lot in that direction, but then again, she wasn't always around.

"You're a girl, so..." Gumi left the answer to that open and blushed a little more. She really didn't like to talk about stuff like this in such a place. Someone could hear them and recognize them. Her illicit relationship with her sister had to be kept a secret.

They had finally reached the attraction. There was long line and even more people just passing through. Sonika took Gumi's arm and forced her to go arm in arm with her, despite that it made them look like lovers to everyone around them. She didn't want her sister to get lost.

They were only a few people behind the group of four, but Sonika had a hard time seeing what was going on with them. The guy with the goth loli girl was still all flushed. No wonder, though. The girl was clinging so tightly to him, he must feel her boobs all over his arm and side. That'd drive any hormone driven young guy crazy.

The other two were a bit more civil. They were holding hands but looking in different directions, not even talking. It looked like they just didn't want to get lost from each other.

"Gumi, what's your cup size now?" Sonika asked without taking her eyes off the four.

Gumi looked a little shocked and went furiously red. A few people around them gave them odd looks. Looking pretty embarrassed, Gumi tiptoed and whispered the answer in her sisters ear. She had grown a little since last time and was pending between B and C now. Come to think of it, she needed to go and buy a few new bra's.

"Then that girl definitely has C or even D. They're bigger than mine for sure. The other one is probably about your size." Sonika said it like it was some sort of informal advertisement and Gumi hissed to make her lower her voice.

"You're a little too fixated on breasts sis..." Gumi felt a little irritated now. The line was steadily moving, but there was no end in sight. How long were they gonna stand there? And Sonika continued to monitor the four teenagers not too far in front of them.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Our luck really is the worst." Miku said with a depressed expression and sighed. They were waiting in line for the wild water slide in the amusement park. But why. Why for the love of god did Gumi and Sonika have the same idea? But not only them. Between Miku and Gumi were four more people she recognized. Her neighbors, Len and Rin, and the girls from the coffee shop, Teto and Ritsu.

"They haven't recognized us yet. I'm amazed you recognized Gumi anyway. I'd never think thats her. Are you really sure that-" Luka was a little confused. The girl had green hair alright, but it was too long to be Gumi, and the hairstyle resembled her own more than Gumi's.

"That's Gumi. She wore the exact same thing to work once, I remember those, because the hair looks like yours, just green." Miku said and covered in front of Luka when the taller green haired girl next to Gumi looked at her. Then that must be Sonika. It was hard to make out behind the tinted glasses and the hat, but that must be undoubtedly Sonika.

"So, now they're following us?" Luka didn't really care. Gumi knew about them, so where was the problem?

"I don't think so. They just had the same idea we had and we coincidentally went to the same attraction to the same time." Miku said and only realized how astronomical the odds of that were. "One hell of a coincidence alright." She was a little annoyed at this turn of events.

"And thats not all. You see the two couples, blond and red haired, behind us? You probably didn't recognize them as you haven't seen them often, but they live right next to me. Rin and Len Kagamine. And they're with girls from the coffee shop I frequently go to." Miku was a little worried that it'd turn into a weird situation if those four found her going to an amusement park with Luka.

"Don't worry, by the time we get on the ride, they're still in line. They won't ever spot us." Luka reassured Miku and took her hand. "We're up." The line was finally ending. It went down a set of wooden stairs to a rotating platform with several of the round floats docked to it. Luka decided to pick the one to the right edge, as it was completely empty.

But luck really wasn't on their side. They were in the sixth float. Everyone after them went to other floats, filling them up. The staff members directed people right after Luka and Miku had sat down. They were trying to fill the excess floats up. Miku's heart started beating really fast when Rin and Teto walked down the stairs and got approached by a staff member. They were directed to the sixth float.

Before they arrived, Miku shot Luka an annoyed look. "You were saying?"

Rin recognized Miku the instant she saw her. And that meant she also knew that the woman next to her had to be Luka. On one side, she wanted to go home. On the other side, she wanted to go on the same ride with Miku. What she finally settled for was to get on it with Teto and make Miku jealous.

Len and Ritsu were directed to the same float and a very awkward situation came about. Luka and Miku were sitting next to each other. Ritsu was right next to Miku, Len next to Ritsu, Teto next to Ritsu and Rin next to Teto. That left three more spots to the float.

Miku knew that good things never happened all at once but bad things did. Nobody said a word. From the look Rin was shooting her, she could tell that Rin knew it was her and Luka. But she didn't say anything and instead kept holding hands with Teto, giving the girl with the drill hair lewd looks.

Luka couldn't talk. The atmosphere was suffocating. Len too, must have noticed but he was too occupied with keeping some blood in his head to say anything. There were only two floats left, a completely empty one that had just arrived and theirs.

"This way please." The staff member directed Gumi and Sonika to a float that was almost full. Gumi broke out in cold sweat the second she recognized the people inside. Sonika felt a little sick as well. She wanted to observe them. But not this close!

Gumi had no choice but to sit down right next to Luka and Sonika took the seat next to her sister. That left one open between Rin and Sonika. "Have a nice ride." The staff member pressed a button on the ground and the float was left loose.

The supposed to be enjoyable ride turned into a horror show. Gumi was so nervous that she had turned completely pale. Sonika wasn't looking too good either. Teto, not recognizing anyone outside her group, was a little weirded out by how aggressive Rin had gotten all of a sudden. Ritsu didn't mind the others at all, despite recognizing Miku, and continued to cling to Len, who was very busy with his own worries right now.

Luka and Miku felt like they were in a steadily smaller getting room. Should they say something? Or not? Did Gumi recognize them? Of course she did, they worked together... This was kinda bad.

The float crashed against a wall and the water below them turned into a giant fountain that hit Miku, Luka, Gumi, Sonika and Ritsu with full force. They were all looking like they had just come back from a diving tour.

"...Whose idea was it to get on this stupid ride?" Ritsu complained, letting go of Len and looking at the now all wet and sticky outfit she was wearing. I'd take a while to get that dry again. And all the dirt in the water! It was a nightmare.

"That would be Len, Teto and me. Someone rained on your mood now?" Rin was obviously pleased by this turn of events. With a few exceptions, all women with big boobs were her enemies. Especially if they were clinging to her brother like that.

"Yeah, well, thanks then. Waterfall." Ritsu said nonchalantly.

Everyone's eyes turned to the front. They were going through a cave any second now. But that wasn't the real problem. The massive waterfall right over the entrance of the cave was a much more pressing matter! The float itself had holes that let out excess water so it wouldn't sink. But the people inside...

A collective "Ah!" turned into collective silence complaining in a matter of a single splash.

"Gumi, you got a towel or something with you?" Luka's hair was hanging all over her face and she tried to fix it by blowing it away. But they were way too heavy. Her blond wig was nowhere to be seen.

"No... sorry. I need one too..." Gumi's fake hair piece had vanished in the splash. It was probably calmly swimming in the river with Luka's wig now. Her hair was so wet it was still dripping on her shoulders. Sonika was exactly the same, although the hat should have protected her a little.

Rin had gotten so wet that her clothes were sticking to her slim body like a body suit. Teto was similar. Her clothes were sticking really tightly to her body. To everyone but Rin's surprise, Teto didn't seem to mind much. Len felt a little relieved after the surprise shower. His blood finally went back to his head and he could think clearly again. He just couldn't look at the soaked Ritsu, otherwise he'd probably faint.

"I think they had drying rooms at the end of the ride." Sonika pulled her hair back, sending droplets flying everywhere. "They better do, or I'll throw someone in the river." Sonika wasn't very good with situations like these, but who was, really.

"You four on a date?" Luka felt that it was completely pointless to keep anything hidden or unsaid at this point. They were all soaked wet and annoyed so they needed a change of mood.

Before Len or Rin could say anything, Ritsu and Teto answered in unison. "Yes, they invited us." It was actually only Len that had invited them, and Rin ended up tagging along, but that didn't matter.

"It's so much a date for us, we just went to have some fun once in a while." Sonika threw in on her own. "I'm Sonika, Gumi's sister." Sonika looked in no distinct direction and tried to fix her hair in a way that it didn't keep falling down in her face.

"I'm pretty sure most here know Miku and me, but anyway. The wet poodle next to me is Miku Hatsune. I'm Luka Megurine. We got a new idea for a song and wanted to get some inspiration by going to the amusement park." Luka was such a talent when it came to coming up with a lie on the spot. Sonika bought the story and so did the others. All except Gumi and Rin.

"I'm rarely in Japan, so I wanted to take my sister to the amusement park." Sonika had no trouble lying the blue from the sky. She and Luka were in the same business, so that was a given.

Miku pointed at the front. "Waterfall." Her voice was completely emotionless, as if she didn't even care anymore.

A huge splash later, everyone tried their best to fix their hair so that it didn't stick to their faces. This wasn't a ride, this was torture. Why the hell was there no warning sign of floods in front of it?

"Sadly,nobody wears a white shirt." Luka said and watched Len, who had closed his eyes to survive this. He had a hard time with just Ritsu, but in a float full of soaked girls with clothes sticking to their bodies, his survival chances were nil.

"What are you, an old man?" Miku commented and gave Luka a serious look. That single comment changed the mood. Everyone else but Luka and Miku started to smile and laugh.

"I don't know if it's worth pointing out, but... Waterfall." Gumi pointed at the front. This time, it was a canyon like scene with waterfalls from both sides. It wasn't that they were hit directly, but the air felt like it had turned into mist.

Teto sneezed and shivered. "I'm cold. They better have those drying rooms you talked about." Teto moved over to Rin's seat and tried to sit on her lap. "Let's warm each other up."

Rin pushed her away, a little grossed out by the idea of doing anything like that in front of everyone else _and_ while being soaked wet. Teto really knew no shame. But apparently, nobody seemed to care about her little attempt.

Miku was busy talking to Luka, and giving her harsh looks. Apparently, the pink haired woman had said something stupid to get punished by Miku. Sonika and Gumi were trying to fix each others hair. They looked so alike it was fascinating. Ritsu was trying to fix her dress, and Teto was trying to get some body warmth from Rin, again. Len was the only one that didn't do anything at all. He read too much manga to not know better than to close his eyes in this kind of situation.

And the ride finally ended. The three groups got off as one and was directed to the drying rooms. Luka overheard some of the staff employee's talking on the side. "I told you a thousand times, you have to keep an eye on the water regulator. You're supposed to turn it off when the green light blinks. It means a float is going through."

Luka just didn't care anymore. She would have murdered and sliced the guy in four pieces and then thrown him in the river if she wasn't soaked wet. There were indeed drying rooms, but nobody was even remotely as wet as the seven girls and one guy that just entered.

It was like a very warm regular room, resembling a typical sauna with towels to set on, but not anywhere as hot as a real sauna. It would take a while to dry up like this. Miku and Luka were sitting at the far end of the room, while Teto, Rin, Len and Ritsu were closer to the entrance. Gumi and Sonika sat across from Miku and Luka.

"I think I saw you doing a commercial once. Your name was Luka, right? You work with Gumi?" Sonika, a towel on her head, one over her shoulders and one to sit on, leaned forward to talk with Luka, who had just finished emergency drying her hair with two towels and Miku's help. Miku was not so much bothered by her hair because she had turned it into a ponytail earlier, but it'd be a pain to get it back to normal later.

"We both work with Gumi. We invited her. Actually, Miku did, but I helped." Luka looked at Gumi and smiled, earning her a smile in return.

"You two going out?" Miku stopped rubbing her face with a towel and hid behind it. Did she notice? Or did Gumi tell her? Nobody else in the room seemed to listen to them, so was it safe to answer this truthfully?

"What do **you** think?" Luka was showing a fake smirk, acting as if she knew something she wasn't supposed to. That was always a good move when dealing with people like Sonika.

"Nothing really. Just curious." Sonika let it be with that. Luka was not to be underestimated. She knew exactly how to deal with stuff like this. "If you aren't on a date, want to tag along with us?" Sonika knew she would reject that. They obviously wanted to spend some quality time together alone, so-

"Gladly. I love hanging out with Gumi." Miku answered instead and poked in the back, unseen for the two sisters.

Sonika was so surprised, like Luka, that she didn't know what to say. But wait, she wasn't supposed-

Gumi poked Sonika in the back. "Did you guys go to the ghost house yet? I really wanna do that." This was her chance. If she played her cards just right, maybe Miku and Luka would be understanding of her relationship with her sister. They were doing a pretty scandalous thing themselves, so they were the only ones she could entrust that secret to.

Both Luka and Sonika looked like they had just been defeated by an enemy they had never seen coming. Usually, Gumi was totally devoted to her sister, but with Miku on her side, things were a little different. The usually twin-tailed girl gave her a confidence boost.

Miku and Gumi talked a bit about inconsequential things until Luka pointed out the that party of four near the entrance had up and gone vanished. Well, they actually were out on a date, so that wasn't surprising to either of them.

"Miku, you said two of them are your neighbors. But aren't they supposed to be twins? A girl and a boy? Those were both boys." Luka was a little confused. She had only met Len and Rin once and her memory of that event was rather fuzzy. They weren't exactly the most important people in Miku's life.

"One of them was a girl. The one with Teto. The girl with drill hair." Miku didn't know how else to describe her. At least Teto didn't know she called her drill hair, then she really hated that.

"You're kidding. That was a girl? Wow, she's so flat, I thought it was a guy." Luka seemed rather surprised and so were Gumi and Sonika, both thinking that Rin had been a guy.

"Never let her hear that, she'll throw something at you." Miku shook her head and tested how dry her clothes were. Maybe a few more minutes.

"They said they were on a date. So... that Rin girl is going on a date with another girl? So young, yet already..." Sonika left the rest of that sentence open. But nobody blushed or showed the slightest sign of being embarrassed at the idea of two teenager girls dating. After all, all four present were doing exactly that.

"I... guess so? It's not really my business who she likes. I just live next to them." Miku knew them well, but not anywhere good enough to know who they dated or why. She really didn't want to either. Her life was complex enough as it was. Luka on the other hand, and Miku was absolutely sure of that, would want to know every tiny detail.

"Sonika, for whom do you work overseas?" Luka actually spoke in English, even though her accent was a bit bad.

Sonika was not surprised that Luka, someone who worked as songstress, could speak English. "I used to work for a major European agency that mostly produced music clips for music channels. Dancing, singing, the whole packet, you know? I terminated my contract a few days ago and came here to see my sister. I'm going to America next. M-TV wants me for one of their new programs." Sonika replied in perfect, accent free English. It was much better than her Japanese.

Luka just nodded, looking like a defeated boxer. She was usually quite proud of her English, but she had no chance against someone that was actually living in Europe. Neither Miku nor Gumi understood the entire line, but enough to make the gist of it.

"You're going to America?" That was the first time Gumi heard about that. She felt a little hurt that Sonika simply hadn't told her until now.

"Yeah, but not tomorrow. I'll be around for a couple of days." Sonika laid an arm around her sister and leaned against her. "I see you made some nice friends here. That's one thing less I have to worry about." With a smile, Sonika leaned in on Gumi, who was a little out of it by the sudden news, and kissed her. She only realized a few seconds later, together with her little sister, that they were in public and that there were two people watching them. "Oh..."

~~~ End of Chapter VII ~~~


	8. Date and Party

**This was long overdue but alas, I'm horribly irresponsible**

**Anycase, enjoy  
**

**Hear My Song!**

Chapter VIII

_Date and Party_

Len wondered if it was okay to simply leave Miku and the other three behind—but not for long, as Ritsu started dragging him quickly in the opposite direction. Rin and Teto followed suit, walking side by side without holding hands, simply talking.

"Oh, so you go to a music school? I didn't know those existed." Teto wasn't too interested in the actual subject of going to school. She wasn't a great student and could sense Rin wasn't either. At least not in things like math or history.

"There aren't really that many. It's kind of a special deal, built a few years ago when some rich guy donated a lot of money for it. Don't know the details, really." Rin was all but interested in continuing this conversation about school. "So you work in a coffee shop? How'd you end up there? Don't you go to college or something? Come to think of it, how old _are_ you, anyway?"

Rin was having a hard time figuring out exactly how old Teto was. The girl was a bit of a mystery and generally difficult to figure out. She was quite an awesome kisser, though.

"Everyone needs money to live. That's why I work with Ruko and Ritsu. I still haven't picked a high school for next year. I'm actually turning sixteen in April," Teto explained briefly.

"You're only a _year_ older than me?" Rin stared at Teto as if she were some sort of walking offense to her eyes. She couldn't believe how unfair the world was. Teto was much better built than she was and there was only one year's difference between them! Rin wanted to drop something heavy on her. Like a concrete donkey.

"I had a real growth spurt since last year. It's gonna happen to you, too." Teto found it easy to read Rin. She was very obviously jealous of Teto's cleavage and wasn't hiding it well. That was the main reason Rin hadn't bothered to try and grope her. But it was kind of funny. Teto found it particularly easy to say things to calm Rin down or take her mind off the silly idea that she needed to have big boobs to be attractive.

"You think so?" Rin couldn't decide how she felt right now. One second she wanted to drop Teto, the next the drill-haired girl said something nice and Rin felt bad for her thoughts. It was like Teto could _read_ her thoughts. That was a silly idea, but still…

"Yep. I think you're plenty attractive as you are now, though." Teto chose to not say "cute" on purpose. When a girl had a complex about a flat chest, calling her cute was essentially the same as calling her flat. At least in _her_ mind it was.

Rin blushed a little and looked to the other side, not sure what to say to that. She didn't even notice that Ritsu was secretly watching her from the corner of her eye.

"Teto and your sister are really hitting it off," Ritsu said.

Ritsu was still clinging to Len, who had managed to get a little more used to that soft sensation around his arm. He looked back a few times as well, watching with great interest at how Teto managed to keep the tiger in its cage. He didn't know of any person beside Miku who could stay around Rin this long without making a fatal mistake. He was quite happy for Rin.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

Silence. People came into the room, warmed up and left. All of them ignored the four girls who sat in the back, quietly looking at each other. Gumi had panicked a little at first, but Sonika kept her cool and waited for her sister to calm down. Miku and Luka didn't even pretend to be shocked.

They already sat there for about ten minutes in total silence, just looking at each other, trying to figure out how to best resolve this.

Miku and Luka knew about Gumi and Sonika's relationship. But the other two didn't know that they knew. Miku and Luka couldn't exactly tell Gumi they had stalked her, either. Luka didn't know if she should simply tell Gumi they knew or not. Maybe she could just say it was intuition that there was something between them. But that wasn't very believable.

On Gumi's side, a thousand excuses were running through her head, none of which would make any sense. Maybe to a stranger, or someone a bit dense, but Luka definitely was ultra sharp about things like this. She would smell a scandal a mile away. That was the type of horrible person Luka was. Gumi was starting to sweat a little, but at least she could blame that on the room being so warm.

Sonika thought hard on her own how to fix this. She was usually a rather carefree person who didn't care about scandals and such, but she didn't want to ruin Gumi's career or make her subject of Luka and Miku's harassment because she was in love with her sister. All of this wouldn't have happened if Sonika had had more self-control or simply told Gumi off. Maybe this was just the chance she needed. Gumi couldn't stay in love with her sister forever.

"So how long have you two been together now?"

Miku was the one to finally break the silence. She had come to the conclusion that it would be best if they made it clear that they weren't really bothered by this. To be honest, they _were_ a little bothered, but their friendship to Gumi easily overruled that.

Gumi was totally caught off her guard and didn't know what to say. Miku didn't look like she was judging her or anything.

Sonika saw it as a chance to set things straight for now. "I can't really tell you. We just started doing this at some point."

"It's that you two grew up in different places, barely knowing each other and stuff, right? They always have that kinda stuff in anime and mang—" Miku elbowed Luka in the side and silently told her to shut up with her eyes.

"Something like that. Except this isn't a manga." Sonika wasn't exactly big on anime or manga. She preferred fashion magazines and stuff like that. "So, I guess you two are a couple too? I'm getting that kind of feeling from you."

Miku knew that they might as well come out with it. Sonika knowing wouldn't change anything at this point. If anything, it could improve the relationship between the two couples.

"Yes. Actually, Gumi knew, but we asked her not to tell anyone. It's not exactly something we _can_ just tell anyone," Miku explained.

"Oh, I think you _can_. You look really cute together." Sonika smiled, which made Miku blush a little.

Luka smirked and laid an arm around Miku, only to be pushed away by the green-haired girl.

"I told you, keep your hands to yourself in public." Miku glared at her lover while Sonika laughed at the little routine of the two.

"I'll ask you two not to tell anyone about this," Sonika said. "I'll keep quiet about you two, too. I guess they're not too keen about lesbians here in Japan either."

While Sonika was pretty good at speaking Japanese, her writing and reading were horrendous—but not as horrendous as her knowledge of the culture. As far as that went, she was only a bit better than the stereotypical European.

"That'll work for us. I'm surprised about Gumi, though. I totally thought her straight." Luka earned a laugh from Sonika. Gumi was so embarrassed by now that she had simply looked at the ground the whole time.

"Oh, the great Luka was wrong? How could this _be?_ Quick, someone tune the universe right!" Miku exaggerated, rolling her eyes while Luka looked a little annoyed.

"You don't have to go that far. I'm a pretty good judge of character. I picked _you_, after all." Luka knew that Miku could not argue against that.

"You mind if we tag along with you?" Sonika wanted to get to know them a little bit better. They seemed like nice people and if they knew about her and Gumi anyway, she didn't have to pretend to be something she wasn't.

"Fine with me," Miku and Luka said at the exact same moment. There was a short pause before all three of them laughed at the coincidence. Gumi was still looking at the ground, thinking about the mess she had gotten herself into.

Luka and Miku got up, followed by Sonika and Gumi. All four of them finally headed out. The outside air seemed so much fresher than before.

"Can we grab something to eat first?" Luka interrupted their enjoyment of the clear sky.

"I'm up for it," Sonika agreed, and so did Miku. Luka and Sonika seemed to be on the same wavelength as they got along really well right away. The two adults were walking in front while the girls were behind.

"Don't worry, you're still just Gumi to us." Miku smiled and took one worry off Gumi's heart. "It's a bit surprising that she's your sister, but I don't really mind. She seems to really like Luka…don't tell me Sonika's like her? Irresponsible, pushy, perverted, practically an old—" Miku got hit on the head by a hand.

"I heard that! Don't you go and fill her head with nonsense about me again!" Luka complained, much to Gumi's and Sonika's entertainment. Miku simply smirked and gave Gumi a knowing look.

"She's a lot like Luka in that aspect. Even more irresponsible, impulsive. But her English is much better, and—" This time, it was Gumi who was hit by her partner.

"Don't give her those weird ideas! I'm not like that at all!" Sonika defended herself, and Gumi had the same knowing look on her face that Miku had before.

Luka and Sonika, both in unison, turned around, gave their partner a grim look and muttered a faint threat. They wouldn't forget this. They'd have their revenge.

"I can call you Luka, right?" Sonika remembered that it was unusual to call people you just met by their first name, even if they were friends of someone you knew. That was one of the weird things in Japan. Calling her Ms. Megurine would be definitely weird.

"Yeah, sure. I'll call you Sonika then." Those two really were getting along well—just as well as Miku and Gumi did. Miku, in fact, was pressing Gumi hard for details on her relationship with Sonika. Miku was just too curious.

Sonika came a bit closer and whispered a few things into Luka's ear, whose smile turned into a diabolical grin quickly. Luka quickly nodded and threw a quick look at Miku. Miku would regret badmouthing her like that. Sonika grinned the same grin and was happy to have made a friend around her age, even if it was the girlfriend of Gumi's friend.

They stopped at one of the small restaurants. The weather was so nice that they decided to sit outside and enjoy the sun. Luka and Sonika both sat down while the other two went to get food. They just didn't trust their older partners to not pull some sort of prank on them. Luka alone was already mischievous, but with Sonika thrown into the mix, it became a real possibility. Miku had already made an alliance with Gumi to survive the day.

Miku ordered fries, hamburgers and Cokes, while Gumi went with sandwiches and Sprites. Miku usually wasn't into junk food, but she had lost a bit of weight lately so she could sin a little. Luka and Sonika had scored a pack of cards from somewhere and were trying to outsmart each other in poker by the time Miku and Gumi came back.

"Took a bit longer than I thought. There's a big crowd trying to get lunch." Miku sat down next to Luka, who sat across Sonika. The table was simple, with two benches, one to each side.

Luka and Sonika munched away at the food while still playing cards. After Luka won the fourth round in a row, Sonika couldn't take it anymore and concentrated on her lunch.

"Where did you get those?" Miku was looking at the cards. They were all printed with all kinds of anime girls.

"It's my trusted card deck." Luka grinned and scraped the cards together, putting them in a little package to protect them from being ruined. She took one of the hamburgers and took a large bite while trying to explain the rules of poker to Miku.

"I know the rules, thank you." Miku put her hand on top of Luka's mouth, forcing her to shut up. "But maybe I need to explain the rules of eating out to you." Miku laughed along with Gumi and Sonika while Luka simply stuffed a handful of fries into her mouth.

"How long have you two been together?" Sonika had finished her lunch and felt rather full. She was leaning against the table, stealing a single fry now and then from Luka's tray.

"How long has it been, Miku? I haven't really been counting." Luka knew that Miku too didn't keep track of it. They had arranged for their anniversary to be whenever they had free time. They were easygoing like that.

"I don't know. I'd need to check my calendar to see when I first met you. You asked me out almost right after that." Miku munched a few fries, then pulled her cellphone from her bag and looked at the date. She really had no idea how long exactly it had been, but that wasn't important to her anyway. That she was with Luka now was important.

"You two really trust each other, don't you?" Sonika was amazed at how well coordinated their tastes were.

Miku and Luka answered in perfect unison. "We do."

Luka almost felt bad for what she had planned for later, but Miku had brought it upon herself.

They finished eating and headed off again, this time in a different formation. All four of them walked in a single line, Luka and Sonika next to each other, Miku next to Luka, and Gumi next to Sonika. It was not obvious to most that they were indeed two couples. They held hands and kept close together.

Luka was rethinking her plan again. Miku would probably not take it very well, and it wasn't all that bad anyway if they teased each other a little. It didn't look like Sonika had any intentions of going through with it herself. It was amazing how similar the two were in how they dealt with their partners.

"Let's get on that!" Sonika stopped the group in front of a swing boat attraction. Miku immediately felt a little weak and Gumi took a step back. Luka, on the other hand, was already pulling Miku with her towards the entrance.

It took them five painful minutes of waiting to get on the ship. They all sat next to each other in the same way they had been walking. Miku pressed herself in her seat, grabbing Luka's hand so tightly that the pink-haired woman was a little worried that the ride might be too much for her. Gumi was barely any different, except that she was already looking pale.

The ship started to move slowly. It went back and forth, going up and down only slightly. Miku relaxed considerably when the ride moved much more slowly than she had anticipated.

"This isn't as bad as I thoooooooouuuuu—" Miku screamed when the ship suddenly went far up and dropped like a rock before moving even further up at the opposite end and dropping again. Luka and Sonika cheered like idiots while Miku screamed for her life and Gumi tried not to pass out from lack of air.

Miku could barely walk when the ride finally stopped, and her throat hurt. That had been one horrible experience. She couldn't deal with that sensation of falling; she was actually really bad with it. Luka looked a bit sorry and helped Miku walk. Sonika carried Gumi on her back. The poor girl had passed out when the ship went to its highest point and they could look up and see nothing but the ground.

"Let's get on that next." Luka pointed at the monorail attraction that had just stopped. There was one long drive every thirty minutes, and they still had five minutes to board. It would be a nice chance to relax. Sonika didn't seem to excited about it, but with Gumi in her condition, she approved.

The inside was just a lot of seats in the middle of the monorail. It looked a lot like an ICE train, but it was a lot smaller. Luka and Miku sat down, with Sonika and Gumi to the other side so that the adults sat back to back.

Miku leaned on Luka and felt a little like throwing up. "That…was _horrible_. I'm never gonna do that…_again_." Miku was dizzy.

"Is Gumi okay over there?" Luka turned her head a little to look over the seat. Sonika had laid Gumi down, resting her little sister's head on her lap. It looked a little like she was just sleeping.

"She'll come around. I guess that was a bit much for her. She's never liked attractions like that. Or was any good with them for that matter."

The monorail started up and slowly went along its line, a long round trip through the park. The four passed a few minutes by just resting, or more accurately, letting Miku and Gumi recover from the hellish swinging ship.

"I'm kind of jealous of you two." Sonika looked down at Gumi and tried to fix her sister's hair a little. It had gotten pretty messed up from the wind on the ship.

"I would be jealous of me, too! After all, I'm gorgeous, successful, have a beautiful girlfriend and—_oww_." An unerring poke right in Luka's side forced her to shut up quickly.

Sonika giggled at the sudden display of ego from Luka's side. "You two really seem to love each other. I can tell just by seeing how honest you two act. Gumi loves me and I love her, but I don't think it's something we should or can keep up forever. I'm her sister, so I'm a little worried about her future too."

"You seemed really smart, but that's the dumbest thing I have heard you say all day." Luka stopped Miku's elbow with her hand, making clear that she wasn't just joking around. "It's not like I or Miku never worry about losing our jobs, but that's never gonna be the thing that decides if we break up. Doesn't matter if she's your sister. If you like things the way they are, keep them like that. How many people beside us know, anyway?"

Sonika was baffled by Luka's serious tone and way of speaking. She didn't think that her fellow songstress had a side like that. It did explain a little how Luka managed to snatch Miku. "Less…than a handful of people. I don't think Gumi's told anyone."

"So isn't it fine to keep it that way? We sure as hell won't tell a soul if that's what you're worried about. The whole thing about worrying over her future is just an excuse, isn't it? You're worried that your relationship will ruin your lives. Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but pretty much any relationship can do that to you. Loving your sister is a bit rare, but that's all there is to that." Luka took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, a signal she was done scolding Sonika.

Miku glared at Luka. Even though she was right, there was no need to be vulgar about it.

"I have to agree with Luka, Sonika," Miku then said. "It was a bit harsh how she said it, but basically, she's right. There are examples in history about stuff like this. People have done the craziest things over love. Gumi is a great girl, so I think you'd be doing yourself and her a great misdeed if you broke up."

"The only thing I'm really scared of is that we'll regret this at some point." Sonika looked down at her sister's face. What was she doing, getting relationship advice from two almost-strangers she had just met that day? But what they were saying rang undeniably true.

"How could I ever regret being with you, sis?" Gumi had long come to and simply kept her eyes closed and listened in on the conversation. She wasn't going to tell them she had heard most of it, though.

"Are you really sure about this, Gumi?" Sonika was not in the least shocked that Gumi had suddenly joined the conversation.

"If she wasn't, I don't think she would still be sitting like that." Luka leaned over the back of her seat and pointed at Gumi's flushed face, still resting on her sister's lap. Her grin only lasted until Miku literally pulled her back into her seat by her neck.

"Have a shred of delicacy, Luka!" Miku whispered under her breath and sighed.

"I don't want to break up with you, sis. I don't really care if we have to hide this our whole lives. As long as I can be with you, I don't mind. I love you and that won't change." Gumi's face was now as red as a tomato. To be confessing her love for her sister in front of Miku and Luka!

Sonika had to resist with all of her might to not go and kiss Gumi right there. "If that's so…"

Sonika shed a single tear out of happiness, knowing that her worries had been for naught. She also felt thankful to Luka and Miku, who had come straight out and told her what they had really thought. Sonika was used to people saying one thing and meaning another, just to maintain healthy relationships to others, but those two didn't seem to mind the risk of saying whatever they thought.

"Doesn't this call for a celebration?" Luka was a real party animal, so there was no way she would pass up a chance like this. And Sonika was supposedly raking in the cash from her job, so she was speculating on getting a real party going.

"Yeah…yeah, it does." Sonika smiled and saw Miku's terrified face out of the corner of her eye. Her assumption proved correct—Luka must get really crazy when partying. She didn't know that both Miku and Gumi had had plenty of their share of having "fun" with Luka.

"I'm not exactly sure how you came to the conclusion that this deserves a party, but I've already resigned myself to this. I knew it'd happen sooner or later. Still think you're just looking for the next best excuse to get me and Gumi drunk again." Miku shrugged and sighed. Even with Sonika present, chances were rather slim that she would act as a balancing factor to Luka. If anything, Luka'd be even worse than usual.

"Gumi, are you still sick from the ship? You're really pale." Sonika was a little concerned.

"No…just remembering something unpleasant," Gumi said and turned to the side. She looked out the window, still lying on her sister's lap.

"Say…how long exactly is this monorail gonna go on?" Luka felt bored already. Seeing the outside move at a snail's pace wasn't exactly something she'd describe as exciting.

As if to answer her, the monorail slowed down even further and then stopped completely.

"Seems we're done. Let's get out of—"

A tune started playing through the monorail and the driver's voice followed it for an announcement.

"_Due to a technical problem, there is a delay in the continuation of this drive. We ask our passengers to remain in their seats and not open the windows or try to leave the monorail._"

"What do you call this again? The thing where 'everything that can go wrong, does go wrong'?" Luka covered her face with one hand and sighed.

"Usually it's Murphy's Law, but in _your_ case, it's _definitely_ karma." Miku grinned widely and looked over the seat to Gumi and Sonika. "I think I'll regret this, but should we play cards? I need something to keep Luka occupied before she starts doing crazy things."

"Fine with me. Maybe one of you two can beat her," Sonika said. Gumi simply nodded, agreeing with Miku's suggestion.

Luka had a diabolical smirk on her face. "Winner gets to skip out on cleaning up after the party."

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"Got it again! We're invincible!" Rin and Teto jumped up, giving each other a high-five in mid-air.

They had, by complete accident, stumbled upon a treasure hunt event. The park staff had put up a mirror maze and the goal was to get to the end before a time limit. Prizes depended how quickly people made it to the end. The duo had already finished the hunt four times now, much to the dismay of the staff. Rin and Teto were systematically grabbing every single limited prize.

Len walked back from a soft drink booth, carrying a drink for himself and for Ritsu, who sat on a bench not too far from the event site.

"They're still at it," Ritsu said. "I've never seen someone keep up with Teto like that. Is your sister a monster? Thank you."

Len handed one of the drinks over and sat down next to his crush. He was a lot more relaxed now that she wasn't constantly holding onto his arm.

"Rin is…unique. I could say the same thing about never seeing someone keep up with her. What amazes me even more is that they get along despite…well…" Len wasn't sure he could actually talk about Rin's complexes, but Ritsu would find out eventually—if she hadn't already realized it from Rin's harsh glares.

"The difference in their chest sizes, huh? Well, not surprising. Your sister would probably pass as a guy if she wore your clothes." Ritsu took a sip from her drink and continued to watch the two hyper girls as they argued with the staff. Apparently the staff was fed up.

"Don't let her hear that. She'll go really crazy. I'm amazed Teto hasn't slipped up even once until now." Len leaned back against the bench and closed his eyes. Being with Ritsu involved a lot more excitement than he could handle.

"Teto has a crazy amount of insight when it comes to stuff like that. She's a lot like Ruko in that way." Ritsu would never forget the day she first met Ruko and the months that followed—months Ritsu would never have endured if not for her.

"Ruko is the owner of the coffee shop, isn't she?" Len only went to the shop when he was brought along or when he went to see Ritsu. The actual coffee or the people there beside Ritsu were of little interest to him.

"You actually know who she is? And here I thought you wouldn't even know it was a coffee shop, seeing how your eyes are always glued on me." Ritsu turned on the bench and looked straight at the massively embarrassed Len.

Ritsu moved closer and closer, then pressed one finger to his shirt front and drew a line upwards. "I'm really attentive about that sort of thing. A lot of people come to the shop just to watch me, you know." Her finger moved over Len's chin and her hand to his right cheek. "I get asked out on dates like this about a dozen times a week. But I always reject them."

Ritsu was so close now that Len had no choice but to look straight into her beautiful face.

Nervous was no longer cutting it, not by a large margin. He felt like jelly in her hands, ready to be shaped into anything. He couldn't even stutter anymore. He suddenly trouble breathing and he felt like he was sunbathing in the Sahara on a sunny day.

Ritsu heard the other two girls approaching and quickly decided to maximize embarrassment for the poor guy. Grabbing his neck, she pulled him in and quickly kissed him, right there in public, in front of Teto and Rin.

Rin rolled her eyes and turned around, a very annoyed look on her face. She then grabbed Teto's hand and pulled her away. Rin was generally uncomfortable around couples because of her unrequited love for Miku. Right now she was sick of Ritsu, her big boobs, and her own horny brother.

"Just get a fucking _room_ already!" Rin shouted before she ran off with Teto, who seemed to understand perfectly what was going on.

Len didn't even get to shout anything back. His brain had short-circuited from the kiss and Ritsu had a devilish grin on her face when she noticed the two disturbances were now out of the way. The boy was so easy to tease and excite that it was a tremendous amount of fun to see how far she could push him before he broke down.

Teto didn't say a word until they had run almost for five minutes straight. Even Rin had to stop to catch her breath.

"Wanna go to my place? I've got something I think you'll really like." Teto had planned to pull this card later on, but now was as good a time as any.

"Something I'll like?" Rin's curiosity was easily piqued and she wasn't particularly interested in staying in the park when there were stupid couples and her brother all over the place. The whole park seemed to piss her off all of a sudden. No matter where she looked, there were people walking hand in hand and shit like that.

"Sure. Better than this place anyway." Rin pulled a displeased face and walked off in the direction of the exit.

It was no secret that Teto wasn't entirely pleased with how Ritsu handled certain situations. Ritsu knew this and still went ahead and did what she wanted, even when Teto was having fun. As Teto walked after Rin, she figured that what she was about to do was an all-or-nothing gamble. If it worked…

Further back, Len was even more uncomfortable than before. There would be real trouble tonight when Rin came home, that much was a given. He was surprised she hadn't caused a huge fuss right there. If he got off with only yelling from her, that was nothing.

"Your sister's idea isn't that bad," Ritsu said. She was now sitting on Len's lap. "Maybe we _should_ just get a room."

Ritsu could see the change in Len's face quite easily. A tomato was almost colorless compared to the level of red his face showed. It wouldn't surprise her if he'd get a nosebleed any second now.

"I'm…I'm…we shouldn't…I mean, if you…really…err…" Len was just babbling nonsense at this point, his brain no longer functioning normally.

"Oh, you thought I was serious there, didn't you? Silly boy." Ritsu smiled and moved off of Len's lap before standing in front of the bench and waiting for his blood to return to his brain.

"There are a couple more attractions I'd like to see," she continued. "Are you coming?"

Ritsu chose those exact words on purpose and thought it wouldn't be odd if Len's sister caught him furiously masturbating later that night.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"Argh, how much longer are we going to be stuck here?" Luka threw down her cards and raised her arms in the air, flailing around. "I can't stand this anymore. _I can't stand it anymore!_"

"Will you calm down already?" Miku was trying to fan herself with the few cards she had at hand. Gumi was doing the same to Sonika, who dealt with the heat worse than anyone else there.

The monorail had been stuck for over fifteen minutes now and while the driver continued to ask for their patience, the train got hotter and hotter in the sun. The car was slowly turning into a sauna. Miku had already stopped Luka from shamelessly undressing down to her underwear twice, but now felt like that wasn't such a bad idea…except for the whole public indecency part.

"Ah…I'm gonna diiieee." Luka threw herself into one of the seats and acted as if she were melting away.

"Stop it already, you're making me feel even hotter than it is. But seriously, how much longer are they going to let us wait?" Miku was at the limit of her patience as well.

"I can't wait anymore!" Luka pushed one of the windows wide open and attempted to squeeze herself through it. The monorail was only about six feet over the ground at that point, so she could take the jump.

"Oh no you won't!" Miku dropped her cards and jumped at Luka to pull her back. The impact of both of them hitting the floor shook the wagon a little. "Think about things before you do them. You're gonna squeeze yourself through that window? Even I or Gumi won't fit through, so how are _you_ gonna do it?"

"Hold my breath?" Luka answered the first thing that came to mind and started to struggle like a little kid. "I need to get out of here, I'm not good dealing with the heat."

Miku saw no other way and slapped Luka to get her to her senses. "Will you cut it out? We're all hot and want to get out, but we can't exactly jump down two meters out of a monorail car. Imagine if one of us came down wrong and broke something!"

Luka rubbed her cheek. "So we just wait? We'll be roasted alive if we stay in here much longer!" Luka continued to argue with Miku, both of them still on the floor.

"Will you two _cut it out already?_" Gumi's voice was low. It carried a hint of danger.

Miku and Luka immediately went quiet, shocked by the girl's sudden outburst.

"I guess even Gumi is feeling the heat…" Luka whispered and Miku nodded.

Only a few seconds passed before the wagon shook violently and they could feel it moving underneath them. Seconds later, they were gaining speed. Miku was lying on her back with Luka right on top of her, but neither of them felt any kind of embarrassment or romance. They were much too hot.

As soon as the door opened five minutes later, they didn't even wait for the apology of the driver but instead left the monorail as quickly as humanly possible.

"I thought I'd end up like a roasted potato."

"That was horrible. I'm never going to ride a monorail again." Miku was no less annoyed than the other three.

"I want to go somewhere cool." Sonika didn't have the energy to complain as much as the others.

"I'm done. Just call a meat wagon to ship me off when I start rotting." Luka threw herself on a bench in the shadow of a big tree and leaned back, closing her eyes. Occasionally she made a heavy breathing sound.

"I'd usually smack her up the head for stuff like this, but I haven't got the energy left." Miku sat down on the bench as well, close to Luka but not close enough to actually feel her warmth. Gumi and Sonika both followed their example—sitting down, leaning back and just trying to shake off the heat.

It was not that it was exceptionally hot that day or that the sun was especially strong. It was being in that monorail car that acted like a microwave that made them feel like roasted chickens.

They sat there silently, ignoring all the people who walked by, for about ten minutes. It was then that Luka jumped up and ran away at a speed like something had just stung her. Miku didn't even bother to look or make sense of it. Luka had her quirks, and Miku had long since accepted most of them. Extreme situations aside, Luka knew what she could do and not do before Miku got really angry.

Almost drifting off to sleep, feeling a lot more comfortable now, Miku's cheek was suddenly touched by something cold. She jumped up and looked for the source of the cold, and it was Luka, holding a couple of popsicles.

"They only had a couple flavors, but it's better than nothing. What do you want—chocolate, vanilla or strawberry? I got one for everyone."

"Where did you get these from, anyway? The only booth selling ice is near the entrance. Give me the vanilla ice." Miku took the white ice and immediately started licking it. The sheer cold entering her body felt like a blessing from above. It was heaven on earth after almost being roasted.

Gumi took strawberry and Sonika chocolate, leaving the second chocolate for Luka. They spent a few quality moments in silence, cooling down and enjoying some cheap popsicles, watching other people walk by.

"Let's play 'what's her secret fetish?' for a bit." Luka sometimes came up with the weirdest games. Miku was long since used to it, but it still stunned Gumi occasionally.

"Play what?" Sonika was interested in anything that prolonged their stay in the shadows.

"It's simple, really. We sit here and take guesses at what kind of secret fetish a girl or a guy who walks by has."

Luka earned weird looks from the other three.

"You really don't care much for others' privacy, do you?" Gumi had always had that feeling about Luka, but this latest game of hers really cemented that fact down.

"She's got none whatsoever," Miku said casually. She didn't even looking at her partner, who was now pouting.

"Fine, then. Should we get going? I don't want to spend the rest of my life on this bench, no matter how much you people love her." Luka watched their annoyed faces as they got up and smiled to herself.

"Where do we go, though? I don't feel like waiting in any long lines anymore." Miku was very undecided and neither Gumi or Sonika had any specific wishes either.

"I should enter you three as Party Pooper One, Two, and Three somewhere. It's nice outside, we're in an amusement park, we're in love—don't you feel any kind of urge to live out on that?" Luka rolled her eyes when none of the three said anything. They all just stared at her.

"Fine." Luka pulled two small dice from somewhere. Only Miku knew where, exactly, and she had always thought it was highly weird to carry around a pair of dice in one's cleavage. It was something Luka had seen on TV and ever since then she'd carried them around. She was horrible at dice games so Miku didn't really understand why she did it.

"Each of us calls an attraction and then decides on a number." They could already see where she was going with this. Luka had just too much energy.

"Haunted house, five." Sonika was the first to place a number.

"Whatever is around the next corner, twelve." Miku wasn't fond of Luka's arbitrary way of deciding things.

"Pond boats, two." Gumi thought that something relaxing would make Luka calm down a little.

"Then I'll go with roller coaster, eight." Luka placed her bet last and suddenly everyone was hoping that the number eight wouldn't come up. Miku secretly planned to accidentally kick the dice if it did come up.

Luka rolled the dice on the ground. "Twelve. Miku wins." Luka grabbed the dice and the two cubes went back where they'd come from. Sonika found the idea interesting.

"Why do I have the feeling that this is going to horribly backfire?" Miku lamented, but it was already too late. Luka took her hand and dragged her away, followed by a slightly excited Sonika and a somewhat cautious Gumi.

What they found around the next corner made them curse Miku's luck in many ways. Even Luka wasn't that eager.

Sonika seemed oddly excited, though. "They have one of these in a park in Germany. It's called Freedom Fall. It's the highest of its kind and there's always a long line for it."

"The Germans must be crazy to enjoy that." Gumi's voice was very quiet compared to what it had been before. She wasn't especially good with heights.

"I want to get on it." Sonika only needed to take one look at Gumi to know that she was not going to be okay getting on it—never mind getting _off_ in one piece. "Luka, you wanna test your courage?"

"I think that'd be testing my gag reflex more than my courage. Sorry, this one is a little too hardcore for me." Luka couldn't help but notice Sonika's disappointed face, but Luka really didn't want to test her stomach with a thirty-meter free fall.

"I'll go."

Everyone looked at Miku with big eyes.

"Just shut up and come on." Miku felt sorry for Sonika. Grabbing Gumi's sister by her hand, Miku dragged the woman away to the relatively short line.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Gumi stood next to Luka, who was making a worried face. "Your face tells me you'd rather have gone instead."

"Miku's a really caring girl deep down—that's why she's getting on it with Sonika. I don't think she's gonna be okay, though." Luka was really worried and it was showing on her face. Gumi didn't know Luka had a side like that.

They stood there, waiting for their partners to reach the end of the line, worried what was going to happen. Sonika was tough, but Gumi has a feeling that she didn't know what she was getting into.

The seats rose higher and higher—Luka could see Miku's long hair from the ground—and then the drop came. All the people on the attraction screamed like they were going to hell. Luka could barely watch.

"Let's go get our adventurers." Luka had a trace of cynicism in her voice and walked towards the exit. People dispersed in all directions, and the last few all shared the same characteristics—pale face, unable to walk straight, leaning on someone else.

One of those people was Miku. Sonika was a little pale, but she could still walk straight. Miku looked like she'd been hit by a ghost.

Luka didn't say anything. No cynical remarks, no sarcasm, no teasing. She just took Miku's hand, gave her a specific look, and waited for Miku to wrap her arms around Luka's neck, carrying her piggyback. It was a little embarrassing for Miku, but she feared if she talked, she'd throw up.

"If I had known she'd end up like that, I wouldn't have gotten on it. I'll apologize later." Sonika said guiltily to Gumi as they walked in front of Luka.

"You don't have to. She knew what she was getting into. Miku is really nice like that." Gumi looked back and found Miku literally passed out on Luka's back. Gumi was so incredibly relieved she hadn't gotten on that free-fall thing.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"You _all_ live here?"

Rin looked around a very chaotic apartment—a couple rooms, a small kitchen, a bathroom. The apartment didn't amount to much, and what was worse, each room was chaos on an individual basis. Rin only needed to walk past doors to know right away whose room it was. Ritsu's room was filled with fancy clothes and it was overly girly as well. The other room was literally filled with _all_ kinds of things. Rin couldn't imagine what kind of person lived there.

Teto's room was in dire need of a vacuum. There were bread crumbs everywhere—on the bed, on the floor, on the small desk. Rin brushed a few away and sat down on Teto's bed. It even smelled like bread. Just how obsessed was she? It was borderline insane!

"This isn't much, but be comfortable. I'll be right back, gettin' the thing I told ya about." Teto's accent changed a little. It sounded a little like a Kansai accent but not quite.

Teto left her room and Rin behind and walked down the hall. She knew Ritsu kept some of her old stuff from _before_ in her closet—Rin could use them. Teto wasn't a hundred percent sure Rin would take it nicely, but after spending the day together, she thought she had a pretty good idea of what kind of person Rin was.

Going through Ritsu's closet, she quickly found what she was looking for—an old cardboard box, big enough to fit a small dog into. When she opened it briefly, she found everything was still there. Taking stuff from Ritsu without permission wasn't something she usually did, but Ritsu would likely never even notice. She had no need for these things anymore.

When she walked back into her room with the box, Teto found Rin looking through her manga and anime collection.

"I usually can get a pretty good idea of what someone likes based on the manga they read…but I can't figure you out. There's yuri, yaoi, and all sorts of weird stuff. Heck, I didn't even want to look at _that_ one." Rin pointed to a DVD set with black cover named _Schwarze Bibel_.

"I think that's a little too hardcore for you anyway. Here." Teto almost shoved the box in Rin's hands only to turn straight around, leave the room, and close the door. "Don't worry, it's all clean."

Rin didn't know what was in the box but she knew to be suspicious when someone handed her something and said "it's clean."

When she opened the box, Rin didn't quite know what to think. On one hand, she wasn't dumb enough to just assume Teto hadn't gotten wind of her being over-conscious about being flat. On the other, she wanted to be angry and throw it all out the window in retaliation for Teto's sheer audacity in handing her something like that.

In the box was something like a black top and two silicon breasts.

Rin stared at it. She knew that it was time to get over herself. She would have bought some herself already if she'd the money. If she could get these for free, then…

Rin's mouth was left wide open when she grabbed one of the fake breasts. The surface felt clearly too smooth to be real, but other than that Rin couldn't believe it _wasn't_ real.

She turned it around in her hand, impressed. Rin had settled for a moderately expensive pair that wasn't anything special. What she was holding now was something far, _far_ outside her price range. These things had a special glue that could be applied so that they could be worn even without a bra. They were really expensive.

Rin tried to guess the cup size they were, but had difficulty. She felt excited. Her heart was beating way too fast for her to think clearly and she sort of felt horny too. So this was what Teto meant when she'd said it was something Rin would like and that they were clean.

Rin positioned herself in front of the mirror and held one of the fake breasts up to her own chest. They were way too big for her. They were so big that if she wore them she'd end up looking almost like Ritsu. They must've been at least an F cup. But thinking and realizing that only made her want them more.

Rational thinking had never been Rin's best trait and right then, her brain was completely out of control. After seeing Ritsu make her brother dance to her every single whim, Rin wanted to be able to do the same.

"I'll even be able to compete with Luka…" Rin said quietly to herself. She had planned to go for more realism and only get bigger ones one at a time every few months, but that plan had gone out the window minutes ago already. She couldn't wait any longer.

"Screw it," Rin cursed, but still made a happy face, quickly undressing. She wasn't wearing a bra and even if she had been, there was no way it would be any use to her now.

Standing half naked in front of the mirror on top of Teto's desk, Rin took one, then the other, and put them on her skin. The silicon was cold and it felt a bit nasty for a bit, but then the excitement took over.

Teto knocked on the door, having realized that just the black top wouldn't be enough to support Rin's newfound cleavage.

The door opened just a tiny bit and Teto dropped a bra in the room that was a size Rin had never even looked at before. It was entirely black and seemed quite fancy.

"Take this," she said from behind the door. Teto was smaller than Ritsu, so she'd borrowed one from her. If Teto took one or two, after all, the girl wouldn't notice. Ritsu was a catastrophe with clothes and being clean.

Rin stared at it. It made sense that Ritsu would own something like that, but what exactly was someone as busty as Ritsu doing with silicon _breasts?_ Rin didn't think further on it, grabbed the bra, and put it on. She needed a few tries. Just walking was a completely different experience. It was…almost tiresome. Breasts were a lot heavier than she'd thought.

When she looked more closely at the black top, Rin found it to be some kind of sports top that had a separate layer of cloth in front to support big breasts. All these things together must be worth at least twenty thousand yen. Rin felt a little dizzy from the sum. And Teto was just giving this stuff to her?

Putting the top on was more of a challenge than the bra. As Rin wasn't used to having any cleavage, she struggled to pull the top over her now-big breasts. After she was finally done, her face was red and she was breathing heavily, exhausted. She hadn't imagined it would be so hard. But the result was worth it.

Rin looked in the mirror and a different person looked back. The flat tomboy was gone. What looked at her was a busty teenage girl with nice, firm breasts. Without noticing, Rin started to drool. She was lusting after _herself_.

The bra and the top kept the large pads in place, and yet, when Rin walked left and right in front of the mirror, she could feel them bounce up and down. The glue did good work. Rin leaned forward, towards the mirror, and made a seductive face, grabbing her own breasts at the same time.

The sensation seemed so real through the cloth that Rin just stared and kept groping herself. She felt the pressure of the groping still on her skin. It wasn't quite like they were real, but she wouldn't get any close with fakes than this.

"Like it?" Rin almost had a heart attack when Teto suddenly laid her arms around her. The other girl leaned against her back, pressing her chest against Rin's back. While it looked weird for Rin to have such huge breasts, most people wouldn't doubt they were real. The world saw stranger things every day.

"Why are you giving me these? This stuff is really expensive, I know it." Rin looked a little embarrassed that Teto had seen her grope herself.

"So I can do _this_." Teto started to nibble on Rin's left ear and her hands moved to her front, grabbing her breasts, slowly moving them up and down, massaging the fake breasts. Rin could feel it and lost herself to Teto's touch right away. If there had ever been any resistance, it had melted away already.

Teto had known that she could never really have fun with Rin if she kept being overly self-conscious about her lacking chest area, so she'd remedied the problem. Now Rin was the one who sported the larger breasts of the two. And it did wonders for her self-esteem. Teto could only imagine the tantrum Rin would throw if Teto tried to grope her _without_ the silicon things on.

Rin moaned, unable to say or do anything while Teto got a little rougher. The silicon did feel real and Teto was good at blocking out things she didn't want to think about too much. To her, they _were_ real. To Rin too, they were real. But Teto instinctively knew she could never take off that top if she slept with Rin or Rin's world would come crumbling down.

But that was fine. Teto was a sucker for weird people and those with issues. It was something that attracted her. Ritsu and Ruko. Rin. They all had their own set of problems. Teto felt that she had made Rin horny enough for now, so she let her go and pushed Rin on her bed.

Teto was on top of Rin right away, her left knee right between the other girl's legs. She could tell that Rin had lingering affection for someone else and Teto had to crush that. Rin was hers and hers alone. Despite how she acted, Teto was extremely possessive and got jealous easily.

To make it seem more natural for Rin, Teto had changed into a skintight black top under her normal clothes when she'd been waiting for Rin to finish trying on the breasts. That way it wouldn't seem odd that only one of them kept their top on. Teto was a master of playing with people's minds.

Rin gasped for air when Teto pushed herself on top of Rin, their faces only millimeters apart, their breasts pressing against each other's. Teto's fetish was the psychological issues of her partner. Rin was overly conscious of her breasts, so Teto got off making her feel good with them.

And still, Teto got a little lost in doing so. She had never done it with someone wearing silicon pads before, but if she didn't know they were fake, she could have sworn they were real.

Rin pulled Teto down, kissing her passionately, slipping her tongue into the redhead's mouth right away. She wanted to sleep with Teto so badly. She wanted for her to feel her up more and more and more. Not a single thought of Miku remained in her head at the time. Her world rotated around Teto now.

Teto felt Rin's hands on her butt. The girl was really impatient. Teto could tell that she'd never done this with another girl before. Rin was clumsy, and even though she wasn't bad at kissing, all her other moves were very simple and unskilled.

Teto broke out the kiss and watched the lust glimmer in Rin's eyes. With a single incredibly smooth move, Teto took off Rin's shorts and pants at once, not even looking down at them as she did. She then backed off a little, taking a little less than a few seconds to get rid of her own clothes. It was a bit weird to have sex like this—both of them with their tops on—but the small line between being hot and Rin having a nervous breakdown if she took off her top turned Teto on even more.

"This will be fun." Teto smiled.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"You're late. Did you eat him?" Teto was leaning against the wall next to the entrance.

It was now past eleven in the evening, and Ritsu had only just finally come home. Teto had done it with Rin four times and she was aching all over.

"No way. His head would've exploded." Ritsu shrugged and took off her boots. She was exhausted after dragging Len around town all day. "What about you? You look awfully tired. How in the world did you manage to fuck that bitch without your face ending up like a cat's scratching post?"

"Watch what you say," Teto said sharply. "Mess with my stuff, and you know what happens, Ritsu. Ya better not try any shit, or you'll fucking regret it."

Teto could be incredibly intimidating when she wanted to be. Ritsu actually lost a little bit of color.

"I know better than that," she finally said. She put her boots away and walked past Teto. "Take a shower. You _reek_ of sex."

Ritsu was about to vanish into her room when Teto grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her close. Ritsu stared right into Teto's eyes, afraid.

"_Don't_ mess with her. She's _mine_. I don't care what you do with the brother, but she's mine. You fuck up and you're done for. I'm not gonna warn you again." Teto knew that the best way to deal with Ritsu was a very overwhelming preemptive strike.

"I get it. Stop it, you're fucking scary." Ritsu pulled herself free and went into her room to change into more comfortable clothes. "You want something else? I'm tired. Shower, food, bed."

"Are you actually serious about her brother? He seems like a nice guy. You usually date assholes, wring them for all they have, and drop them. I don't have a problem with that. But he seems genuinely nice." Teto wouldn't have cared if not for the fact that he was Rin's brother.

"I haven't really thought about it. I've been doing this for years now. I guess I'm getting a little sick of it." Ritsu pulled a brush from her desk and started brushing her hair.

"I can't imagine you _sleeping_ with a guy, much less having a serious relationship with one. When was the last time you got laid, anyway?" Despite some differences, Teto and Ritsu were relatively close.

"That girl, Lily. The blond, tall one. The transfer student."

"I remember. Kinda creepy that I think that's what Rin is gonna look like in a few years."

"Don't tell me you're really going out with her. You're serious about her?"

"I _really_ like her."

Ritsu had long since figured out that the more screwed up someone was, the more Teto liked them. This girl must have some serious screws loose for Teto to say that.

"Where is Ruko, anyway?" Teto was curious that the tall woman was not home yet.

"Probably drinking somewhere with someone. You know her." Ritsu finished combing her hair. "Take a shower before Ruko comes home. Seriously, you reek like a whorehouse. Just how many times did you do it?"

"Four times. She's got some ridiculous stamina. I'm too beat to take a shower. I'll get one first thing tomorrow. I'm going back to bed." Teto waved off Ritsu's comment and watched Ritsu go in the bathroom.

Rin was sleeping soundly in Teto's bed, naked except for the one top she'd kept on the entire night. Teto crawled into bed and snuggled up to Rin, wrapping her arms around her waist. A malicious grin was on Teto's lips. She had taken Rin, and now she belonged to Teto alone.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"Please reach you, Northern Lights!" Luka shouted into the microphone.

After Miku had calmed down, the group had decided to go for karaoke instead. None of them was too fond of the amusement park at that time.

They were all slightly drunk, having ordered almost the entire drink menu twice. Luka was on a roll, singing one song after another. Occasionally Miku or Sonika would join in.

"I'm gonna sing this." Sonika put a number in and didn't let Gumi or Miku see what she selected. Luka's current song was the opening to an anime that she liked.

"No need to waver / Though without any strength / You can find answers that you're looking for / After you've moved on!" Luka was singing the English version of the song. Miku's English was average, so she didn't understand all of it.

"Toilet," Miku said to the others. "Stop her from killing herself, will you?" Miku left her bag and everything and headed for the girls' bathroom, not drunk enough to stumble, but not sober enough to _look_ sober either.

"You can put your goddamn fucking vocals up your ass, you _insufferable asshole!_"

Miku was startled by a screamed argument from the room next to theirs. A tall, beautiful blond girl stood in the doorway, wearing a fancy outfit and screaming at the top of her lungs.

She slammed the door closed and stomped off, right past Miku, into the girls' bathroom. For Miku, it was a really awkward situation. The girl undoubtedly had seen her standing there and witnessing her outburst. But Miku needed to pee. There was no helping it!

In the bathroom, she could hear the girl crying. Sometimes, there were things more important than bodily needs, so Miku stood next to her.

"Hey. You okay?" she asked. Miku hated that she couldn't hide the fact that she was a little drunk. It always showed in her voice.

"What? Who're you?" The girl stopped sobbing and looked at Miku. "Ah!" She pointed at Miku and seemed extremely surprised. "You're Miku. Hatsune Miku, aren't ya? Holy _shit_, you must be. I'd recognize that voice anywhere!"

Miku was really uncomfortable with the fact that a fan had just recognized her at a karaoke bar, but at least the girl didn't seem likely to start crying again any time soon.

"What was going on outside?" she asked.

"That? My dick of a band leader's constantly changing the fucking lyrics of our songs around and expects me to just remember them top off my head all the time. So I quit. Serves that asshole right." The girl was pretty vulgar and straightforward. To top it all off, the girl pulled a pack of cigarettes from her handbag and lit one. She took a deep drag but was careful to blow the smoke away from Miku's face.

"I'm Lily Storm. 'S my stage name. Since it's you, Miku, I'll tell ya my real name—it's Yuri. Yuri Kaze. Nice to meetcha." Lily held her hand out and grinned.

Miku was used to a lot of weird stuff because of Luka, but this girl was definitely one of a kind. Nevertheless, she took her hand.

"Ya know, there's a hot rumor on the net about you sleepin' with Megurine 'n Gumi. Some say 's Luka, other's say 's Gumi. Can't see Gumi being yer type, seriously. Hahaha!"

Her mood definitely swung around fast. "I would've told ya to listen to me sing but I just about 'n quit my band, so I guess back to workin' shitty part-time jobs it 's. Hey, are ya here 'lone?" Lily took another deep breath of the cigarette, and Miku finally decided to give in to her need to pee.

"Sorry, gotta pee." Miku vanished into a stall with Lily waiting outside.

"I love yer song, 'u know. 'S just friggin' awesome. Love is war…should've made it rock. Give it some power." Lily was clearly someone who moved at her own pace, and that pace was two hundred miles per hour.

Lily was still there but had finished her smoke when Miku came out of the stall and washed her hands.

"Ya didn' answer my question. Are ya alone here?" Lily leaned against the wall next to Miku and viewed her, looking relatively relaxed. Miku found it refreshing that the girl wasn't fawning all over her.

"No. Luka, Gumi, and Sonika are here with me. I can introduce you if you want." Miku felt sympathy for Lily, for no particular reason. Maybe because she was a little like Luka.

"Are ya kiddin'? Thanks a bunch, Miku. 'S okay callin' ya Miku, right?" Lily opened the door and held it open for Miku.

"Yes, just give me a minute." Miku felt a little overwhelmed by the blond girl's attitude.

When she opened the door to their room, loud symphonic metal music blasted out and Lily tried to peek past Miku at all costs to see who was singing her favorite tune.

"_Gods of old / Fighting the spawn of devils / Heroes of might 'n magic / Hear my chant, hear my song, aid my cause, fight for glory, die for blood!_" Sonika pronounced the lyrics flawlessly.

Luka was completely taken and acting like a teenage girl at a visual kei concert. Gumi was holding back a little more, but was pretty much doing the same thing. Sonika put on a real performance—striking poses, flailing her left arm around, pulling face,s and shouting in the mike at full power.

"'Valkyries of Odin,' one of my favorite songs! And damn, she's bloody awesome," Lily commented, while Miku simply went into the room and sat down, unable to resist the mood, and joined Luka in her wild behavior for once. Lily just stood there in the entrance, waiting for the song to end.

"Miku you've _got_ to tell me how you manage to go to the bathroom and come back with a hot girl," Luka said, eyeing the newcomer to their little party.

"Do you have a death wish?" Miku asked, and pinched Luka's cheek. "I thought I made it clear what's gonna happen if you cheat on me again." Miku always lost some of her formal speech when she drank.

"Miku, who is she?" Gumi tried to bring some order back into the room.

"Her name's Lily Storm. Had a falling out with her band and I met her in the bathroom," Miku explained.

Lily slowly walked over to the free seat next to Sonika and sat down. "Nice ta meetcha al'." Lily had a really heavy accent, but none of the others could place which kind.

"Jus' now th' was 'Valkyries of Odin' by Luring Angelwhispers. You were awesome. Th' was better than the original vocalist. Holy shit, now I recogniz' ya! Sonika Lyoid! Miku wasn't kidding. Awesome. Can I shake yer hand?" Lily seemed pretty excited to meet some of the stars of the music world so randomly.

"Sure," Sonika said. "You've found a really lively one, Miku. I like it. You and Gumi aren't much for partying."

Luka blinked. Sonika had just said something that Luka knew she shouldn't have.

"Just wait and see. Gumi, get up here." Miku was easily provoked, even when she'd had only a little to drink. The song that came on was instantly recognizable—it was Miku's "Love Is War." Gumi and Miku's voices blended easily together.

Luka, Sonika and Lily were quickly caught up in the song and the mood got even wilder. The next song was a cover of another anime song that Luka sang together with Sonika.

"_A night sky full of cries…_" Luka looked at Sonika.

"_Hearts filled with lies…_" Sonika looked back at Luka.

"_The contract, is it worth the price_…"

"_A soul pledged to the darkness_…"

And then they joined together. "_Now I've lost it, I know I can kill, the truth is just beyond the gate!_"

Miku recognized the song from the radio and she liked it quite a bit. Gumi did too. Needless to say, Lily was happy just being there with these famous people. Luka and Sonika were especially famous, so to meet them like this and to even sing karaoke with them was like a dream come true.

"_So we rise, close your eyes, we're falling!_" Sonika and Luka locked hands and pointed together at Lily, just before they went into the chorus.

Miku ordered a couple more drinks while Gumi was busy competing with Lily to see who could empty a full glass of vodka diluted with juice faster. They both moved back and forth with the music while Luka and Sonika had started to perform a real show on the "stage" in front.

"_Just howling in the shadows!_" Luka and Sonika were sweating but not showing a single sign of exhaustion. They were pros, much tougher than other people when it came to singing.

"You said your name's Lily, right?" Luka moved over to Lily and leaned over her shoulder, pointing at a specific song. "You know this one? Hey, Sonika, you know 'Resonance,' right?"

Luka grinned and grabbed Lily by her wrist, pulling her up front between Sonika and herself. Lily was really tall, only a little bit shorter than Sonika and taller than Luka. There were only two microphones, so Luka laid her left arm around Lily's shoulder, pulling her so close than Lily could smell the alcohol on Luka's breath.

The music started to boom and the three started to move with the beat.

"_Tsunaida tamashii no hi ga, mune wo sasu nara!_" The three sang together, but surprisingly Lily's voice was the most fitting. It was a fast rock song and her voice simply fit it perfectly.

The drinks came and Miku saw the shocked face of the guy bringing the drinks. He recognized all four of them but had no idea who Lily was. He looked really envious of the girl who got to party with the four stars.

"_Deatta wake wa dou datte ii, mikitsukerarete! Fureta shunkan no kizu no fun dake, tashika ni nareru!_" The three continued to give it their all. Especially Lily seemed to be really getting into it. They stepped around, pointed at each other, and put on a real show. Miku was amazed that Lily could keep up with the two.

And finally the song ended. Lily was so out of breath that she just threw herself in her chair and took a long sip of her Coke with rum. "They're monsters, I tell ya." She'd only sung in a small band until then and had never performed live before.

"Miku, let's do 'Magnet.'" Luka pulled her lover from her seat. The music had already started—Gumi had put the song in for them. The two stood in front, locked their hands, and waited for the lyrics to start.

"Are they really going out?" Lily leaned over to Sonika, who was downing a glass of pure sake with ease.

"Just look at them go. Should be pretty obvious." Sonika pointed at the "stage" and Lily caught a few seconds of Luka and Miku seriously kissing, not even a bit embarrassed.

"What about you? Anyone special?" Sonika grabbed Lily's chin and leaned really close, making Lily blush.

"_Sis!_" Gumi voiced her complaints. "I'm right here, you know!"

"I was just joking, Gumi. Don't get all flustered. You get jealous so quickly, it's fun to tease you a little. She's not my type, but I saw how _you_ were eyeing her." Sonika grinned and Gumi opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

"Wanna kiss?" Lily smiled a broad smile and offered her lips to Gumi, who opened her mouth even further. It was so unfair, them teaming up against her. She would show them!

Gumi was a bit of a lightweight when it came to drinking, so maybe the alcohol clouded her judgment when she leaned forward, put a hand on the table to support herself, and pulled Lily by her neck, kissing her right in front of her sister.

"So daring!" Sonika knew that she had brought this about, so she wasn't angry. Gumi standing up for herself and doing something to get Sonika back was quite rare.

Lily stared at Gumi with wide eyes.

"How's that, sis? I can do it if I want to!" Gumi was not entirely sure what she was talking about.

The music went off and Gumi turned to look quickly through the catalog. "Do you know this one?"

She pointed at a rock song she had heard a few times on the radio. At first there was confusion as to whom she meant, but then Gumi stood up and put the catalog right in front of Lily.

"Sure do. Don' tell me ya want me to—" Lily didn't even get to finish her sentence. Gumi put the song on and it started almost right away.

Lily was still a little tired from singing "Resonance" with Luka and Sonika. Not to mention that all of a sudden Gumi had kissed her because of a joke gone a little out of control.

"_Beatrix!_" They announced together and the song started. Luka knew the song and that it was naturally a duet. She hadn't expected Gumi to pull Lily on stage though. The girl was more daring than Luka gave her credit for.

"What's going on?" Miku sat down next to Sonika, who seemed oddly amused for some reason.

"Gumi's teaching me a lesson. Go Gumi!" Sonika shouted over the music.

Miku was leaning on Luka. She had sung a little too much or maybe drank a little too much.

"Be right back. Bathroom." Luka vanished and Miku thought it was a good time to go to the bathroom herself. Again. Both of them were not able to walk straight anymore, but they weren't worried by it.

"I'm pretty proud that you could just talk to her like that and bring her with you. I'd have done the same thing."

"She seems nice enough. Even wilder than you, but nothing we can't handle. Wonder if she lives around here," Miku answered.

"I'd never thought we'd have a conversation like this in a public bathroom."

"Just don't think about it or it'll become embarrassing."

"She looks good with Gumi, don't you think?" Luka picked a different topic.

"I wonder what Sonika is gonna do. She wanted to break up with Gumi not even a day ago and now this happens." Miku wasn't sure it was the best thing to happen.

"I don't think she'll just drop Gumi. She really cares about her. If she wants them to hook up, she'll work towards it. I'll ask her later, maybe after you and Gumi have passed out."

"What kind of statement is _that__?_" Miku wasn't very happy to hear that.

"Oh, come on. You can't walk in a straight line anymore. I know how much you can take. Two hours, tops." Luka smirked and left the stall to wash her hands.

Miku came out a little later, staring at her partner.

At that very second, Gumi came running in and flung herself into a stall. Sonika and Lily followed shortly after.

"I guess it's time to leave. She almost threw up in the room," Sonika said. She was the only one who still seemed mostly sober.

"Uh, 'cuse me, but any of ya got a place I could, uh, maybe crash at for t'night? I kinda need ta sort out my stuff, and yeah…" Lily didn't seem very comfortable imposing on the girls.

"You can sleep on Gumi's couch. I don't trust Luka to not secretly rape you in your sleep," Miku said, glaring at Luka.

"Hey!" the songstress shot back, then sighed. It wasn't that bad an idea.

"I'll get the okay from Gumi. She's a little out of it."

After Gumi had successfully emptied herself and entered depression mode, Sonika carried her out. Luka paid for them all, and they left, heading back to Luka and Gumi's building.

"Lily…" Luka took the blond girl to the side while the others walked a little further ahead. "You can't tell anyone where we live. You can't tell anyone about this evening. Is that clear? I will make your life hell if you break your promise."

Luka was scary when she was serious, and Lily quickly nodded. No kind of publicity or attention was worth giving up a friendship with these four.

Luka smiled happily and smacked Lily's butt. "You looked nice with Gumi. But don't try anything funny. If she comes on to you tonight, stop her. She's drunk. If Miku could hear me saying this, she'd probably beat me with an irony hammer, but still."

"I'm not that kind of person. I don't take advantage of drunk girls. Also, she's already kissed me twice, so that's plenty for me." Lily's accent was completely gone. It was something she kept up for appearances.

"See you tomorrow!" Miku and Luka waved the other three off.

"I want to go to bed…" Miku lamented.

"Bed sounds nice…" Luka whispered, and laid an arm around Miku, pulling her into an embrace.

"Pervert…" Miku complained just before kissing her love.

~~~ End of Chapter VIII ~~~


	9. Plans and Desires

**Hear My Song!**

Concert IX

_Plans and Desires_

Rin was fighting a headache that commanded her to ignore everything and just stay in bed. She had gotten way too carried away last night with Teto. She felt sore but satisfied. It had been a while since she'd felt _that_ good.

Teto was already gone and a short look at the clock next to the bed made it pretty clear why—it was almost noon. School was still out because of vacation, but Teto had to work. Rin sat up and almost fell forward, not used to the extra weight on her chest.

She hadn't had a chance to actually get used to them. Minutes after she'd put them on, she'd landed in bed with Teto. Rin was no expert on the matter, but what they'd done last night must have been what people called great sex. Yet, Rin was a little frightened of Teto.

It was almost like she had read Rin's mind. Her complex about her breasts. Giving the pads to her. Keeping her own shirt on so Rin wouldn't feel singled out. The girl had frighteningly good insight. It was a bit creepy. But Rin couldn't very well complain.

She stood up and looked for her clothes, but Rin couldn't find them. Not even her panties. The top Rin was wearing was sweaty and smelled, so she had to get rid of it. There was no message or note from Teto, but judging from the events the day before, the red-haired girl likely wouldn't mind if Rin borrowed some clothes.

The only things that both fit and were clean were, in order of how Rin put them on: a pair of black panties, a very long dark blue jean skirt, and a black t-shirt with some obscure printing on the front. Her shoes had vanished into the chaos of the room somewhere, likely to be never found again.

Rin looked at herself in the mirror. She had never been more satisfied with her figure than she was now. She jumped in the air just a little and watched as the breasts bounced just like real ones. Rin couldn't wait to show them off. Only her brother, Miku and her family, and Luka would know right away.

Rin just watched herself in the mirror as she paced the length of the room. She was a little in love with herself. What would she do now? Go downstairs and check if Teto was busy? Go home and harass Len a little? Wander around the town?

She wanted to go to the pool, but that brought a few problems with it. Namely, how could she choose a swimsuit that would conceal her…enhancements? "I'll just ask Teto later."

Rin looked for some kind of shoes to wear, but the only thing she could find in the chaos was a pair of sandals.

Rin left the small apartment and walked down the stairs in the back of the coffee shop, where she ran ran right into Ritsu, who gave her an amused look.

"I was wondering where they went." The waitress picked up a fresh tray, put two cups of coffee on it and headed out. "Just keep them," she said. "I would've thrown them away at some point."

Ritsu was definitely not going to screw with the girl. Teto would make mincemeat out of her. And it was the truth anyway. Ritsu had only found out by coincidence about it.

Following Ritsu, the blond girl sat down at a table and leaned back. She could already feel a few stares from other customers. She oh-so-enjoyed the attention. Nobody gave a shit about some flat-chested tomboy, but everyone looked at a teenage girl with huge breasts. Looked and lusted.

She was so busy wallowing in the attention she was getting that Rin didn't notice two people she knew sitting at the table behind her. It was Neru and Haku, Miku's cousins, taking a break from just sitting around at home all the time.

"Miku hasn't been coming home much lately." Haku was not as depressed as usual, enjoying her time with Neru. It wasn't often that they went out together.

"Doesn't surprise me, really. If you lived on your own, I'd stay at your place all the time too." Neru took a sip of her coffee and looked past Haku. She wasn't sure what Rin was doing, but she certainly was attracting attention.

Haku blushed a little from Neru's words and turned her cup in her hands, a little restless. She wasn't used to just sitting in a coffee shop and spending a morning doing nothing but relaxing. Haku had been dragged out of her room two hours ago by Neru and only been told that they were going out. She was still extremely shy around people she didn't know, and if not for Neru's presence, she'd have left long ago.

"Neru, you said we were going somewhere. Did you mean here?"

"No, I'm going to buy a new swimsuit. I'm sick of my old one. You need a new one too." Neru grinned and finished her cup of coffee. "Finish up, I'll pay."

Neru got up and walked away from the table in the direction of the register. As she did she spied over shoulder and got a good look at Rin. The cause of all the attention was obvious. The previously flat-as-a-board girl had grown enormous breasts. Not as big as Haku's, but then again, Haku was a lot taller than Rin and almost twice her age.

They had to be fake, but they looked real. But they _had_ to be fake. Neru wasn't sure if she was supposed to be jealous or if she should just pity the girl. When she got to the register, a red-haired girl handed her the bill and Neru paid promptly.

Haku was already waiting for her at the door. Neru grabbed the hand of the tall woman and the two left the coffee shop. They were barely five steps outside when Neru started talking about Rin. "The girl from next door, you know, the girl of the Kagamine twins. Remember her?"

Haku quickly nodded. She was a wild tomboy who sometimes came over with her brother to see Miku. Short, blond hair, flat as a board, and a bit on the annoying side. That was Haku's full impression of Rin.

"She was there in the shop, sitting around with boobs almost the size of yours. She was still flat a couple days ago, so they've got to be fake. I wonder what's going on in her head." Neru wasn't anywhere near well endowed either, but it didn't bother her so much that she would wear fakes.

"Maybe she was bullied because of it?" Haku knew from firsthand experience that being bullied was a terrible thing. When she was in eighth grade, she towered over most guys and looked much more womanly than any other girl in the school by far, which made her the object of their envy and jealousy.

"Someone like her? Can't imagine it. Well, it's none of our business anyway. She looked a bit awkward, but that's because I know her as flat-chested girl. I guess for someone who doesn't know her, it looks pretty hot. Doesn't come close to natural ones like yours, though." Neru smirked and watched Haku blush again. It was so much fun to tease her a little. The woman ought be really confident about her body but for some reason she wasn't.

"Don't even think for one second I'm going to let you buy a one-piece swimsuit," Neru said. "You've got a nice body so you'll have to show it off a little. Even if it's only for me."

Haku needed some self-esteem. Neru didn't want her sister to spend the rest of her life depressed and afraid of others.

The white-haired woman was trying to raise objections, but knew it was pointless. "You think I look nice?" Haku couldn't remember the last time someone had told her that.

"Compared to me, you look like a model. You're tall, you have fair skin, big breasts, long legs, a nice butt. If I put you into a nice dress and took you to a club, they'd be all over you." Neru rolled her eyes and accelerated her walk a little. "Have some confidence in yourself, sis."

As they took a left turn and followed the street, the unlikely pair came across a traveling painter. He sat at the edge of the walkway with a canvas in front of him. A sign said "Pencil Portrait—500 Yen."

Neru almost shoved Haku onto the plain stool in front and paid the artist. Haku looked at her sister with desperate eyes, but she only earned a gleeful smile.

"Sit still." Neru walked behind the artist, who stared at Haku a little, trying to decide how to draw her. "Smile," she ordered. She then put her index fingers to the corners of her mouth and lifted them up. The gesture made her sister smile indeed.

"How long is this gonna take?" Neru wasn't the most patient person in the world, but she really wanted to do this for Haku and herself.

The artist was a man in his twenties. "Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes usually. Your friend is really beautiful, so it could take a little more than that."

"You heard him. Don't move, Haku, and don't worry. I won't go anywhere." Neru smiled at her sister, who seemed very embarrassed.

Five minutes passed. Neru had gotten bored watching the artist, so she played with her cell phone.

"Getting a portrait?"

Neru didn't recognize the voice at first, but a short look made her remember. Meiko, the employee of a liquor shop not too far from their apartment, had shown up. Haku wanted to say hello, but she wasn't allowed to move.

"I thought it would be nice." Neru had never really just _talked_ to Meiko before, and for a second she didn't know what to say until she noticed the bags Meiko was carrying. "Going shopping?"

By coincidence, Neru also noticed a pile of bags spread all over a nearby bench. A blue head of hair poked out of the pile of bags. "Or going on a date?"

"Kind of both, I guess. I won fifty thousand yen in a lottery, so I'm getting some new stuff. He's coming along." Meiko pointed at the bench, and Kaito raised his arm as a sign he was still alive. Neru thought that Meiko was as cruel as ever. Awkward silence fell between the two.

Kaito finally packed up and joined them. "Is Miku out with Luka?" he asked. "I haven't seen them in a while. Their faces are all over TV and the city right now." Not many fads passed without Kaito knowing about them.

"I guess so. She spends most of her days at her apartment since some numbskull posted her address on a blog. We get reporters at home every day. It's such a damn pain to get them to leave." Neru shrugged and sighed. The situation was becoming really tiresome. "Are you okay not minding your shop this time of the day?"

"I have to wait until I get my shipment tomorrow. Meiko works part-time at my place now, so we're both free." Kaito put down a few of the bigger bags and took a breather. He was not looking forward to carrying all of that stuff all the way home.

"What happened to your job at the booze shop?" Neru knew just about that much about Meiko.

"Got fired. The pay was less than what Kaito pays me and the owner is closing up shop. It's not a profitable business anymore, I guess. I made sure to ransack the store before I sent in my keys, though." Meiko smiled wide.

"Atta girl, that's the right way to pay some old geezer back for laying you off like that." Neru was starting to like Meiko. She had the right mindset. The fact that she was friendly to Haku was a plus.

"Where are you two going? Also on a date?" Kaito earned a cold look from the two women.

"They're _cousins_," Meiko said with a trace of annoyance.

"It's legal to marry your cousin, so I don't see what the prob—" With a painful expression, Kaito shut up. Meiko had flicked his forehead with her index finger. She was trying to get away from her habit of seriously hurting the poor man whenever he said something stupid, but there were limits.

"Leaving him aside, what are you up to? Going shopping? Seems to be what everyone is doing today. Storm is having a sale over at 108. They have some nice stuff. Kaito, velvet bag."

Meiko held out her hand and Kaito, after juggling a few bags around, handed her a velvet-covered one with a big label.

Storm was _the_ leading retailer for tough fashion. It took up the entire top floor of 108 and was the biggest fashion store in the area by far. Rebel fashion, biker fashion, military and naval fashion, gothic, and more. If something was not average or casual, it could be bought at Storm.

Meiko took a short black leather skirt from the bag and showed it to Neru. If there was one thing that united all women, it was fashion and clothes.

"How much did you pay for—" Neru saw the price tag. "No way!" She was baffled. "Haku, we're going to Storm after this."

"There's a huge crowd there right now. I took pity on Kaito and let him wait outside. It's a life-or-death fight for changing rooms and clearance stuff. There's a huge rush. I have no idea why the store's doing it, but _I_ sure ain't complaining." Meiko smiled happily. She had spent more than she wanted to but she'd also gotten much more than she had thought she would get.

"Oh, it'll be good for Haku to actually deal with that." Neru always wanted Haku to dress up a little. The same old pants-and-shirt combination had gotten boring years ago. This was the perfect chance.

The white-haired woman was listening to their conversation and looking a bit miserable. She didn't like crowded places, but Neru was pushing her a lot lately so she could get used to being around people again.

"We need to go. I don't think Kaito is gonna hold out much longer." Meiko pointed at her blue-haired escort and smiled. "Tell Miku to drop by the shop. Haven't seen her in forever." With those words, the brunette waved goodbye to Haku and left together with her drudge.

Neru went back to looking at her cell phone as she waited for the artist to finish. It took another ten minutes until the masterpiece of pencil art was finished. It looked exactly like Haku, and the hair had astounding detail. The man rolled the paper up and put it in a bag, and Neru paid him.

"He was totally ogling you. The artist." Neru was smiling from ear to ear. Even though Haku was only wearing her standard favorite outfit, the artist had been all over her.

"Are you sure? It didn't look like he was—" Haku almost shrieked when Neru smacked her butt.

"Give it a _rest_, Haku. You look much better than I and most other people do. There are a lot of people who'd kill to have your figure." Neru was patient with her sister, but not infinitely so.

"But—" Haku shut up when she saw Neru glaring at her. Haku loved her sister but she could be really scary at times.

"Do you think I'd be all over you every night if you were ugly?" Neru was bitter. She hated that Haku beat herself up all the time. Neru was one of the people who would kill to look like her sister.

"No…" Haku went quiet after that, sensing the mood had taken a dive. As usual, it was her fault. Neru was never mad for long, but Haku always felt guilty for days.

"I'm not mad, but you need to stop beating yourself up. It makes me sad." Neru looked to the other side of the street. She was embarrassed to show her face to her lover while saying such a thing.

The older woman just smiled and took her sister's hand, happy that she was with Neru. A lot of their talks were like this—brief, sometimes even one-sided. But they always made up in the end.

"Are we really going shopping at Storm?" Haku knew well what kind of clothing and accessories they sold there. The only thing they didn't sell were average, run-of-the-mill things. Or anything that qualified as normal.

"Yep. No way out of this, Haku. We're already there." Neru pulled the tall woman with her across the street just as the signal light went green. Countless people were winding in and out of the gigantic department store in front of them. 108 was the biggest store in town, modeled after Tokyo's famous 109 department store. One could literally buy almost anything a household needed there.

As they threw themselves into the chaos, Neru kept a tight hold on Haku's hand, knowing it'd end in disaster if they got separated in a huge building full of strangers. Getting into one of the eight elevators took a while and when they finally did they were already sweating and out of breath. Meiko hadn't been kidding. A huge rush was exactly what was going on.

When they reached the top floor, people poured out and in of the elevator, and the two sisters finally saw where they wanted to go. Or rather where Neru wanted to drag Haku.

But the failed songstress felt not as alien as she usually would have. She wore mostly normal clothes, but that was because she didn't like to stick out. Back in her youth, Haku had owned quite a large assortment of eccentric clothes.

Neru, fully aware of how shy Haku was, pulled her sister into one of the changing rooms. "Wait here. Gonna be right back." With those words, the blond woman vanished into the current of people and started to pick out clothes almost exclusively for Haku. She could always shop for herself later or on the side.

Ten minutes passed. Haku was starting to get worried and took a sneak peek out of the room. There were dozens, if not _hundreds_ of people in the shop and the mere sight made her feel sick. She didn't know any of these people!

Neru returned to the safe room just as Haku went to take another look. She was breathing hard and looking flushed, her hair mussed up quite a bit.

"You…can't go out there." Neru shook her head hard and pointed to the world beyond the small changing room. "It's madness. Sales madness."

She then unloaded a whole barrel's worth of clothes onto the stool that was placed in the cabin, then picked something out of the pile that made Haku take a step back.

It was a barista uniform. White sleeves, a black top and trousers, altogether looking very classy and refined. Not even a hint of cleavage or skin, but still sexy.

"Strip." Neru's eyes almost gleamed.

With a whimper, Haku hung her head. She couldn't get out of this one, not when Neru was this excited. Standing in just underwear in front of Neru was still embarrassing, but not as much as it used to be.

The uppermost button was impossible to close. She probably filled out the top more than the designer intended, yet Haku looked every bit the experienced bartender, as if she'd worked the job her whole life.

"Clothes really do make people." Neru smiled and whirled her hand, signaling Haku to turn on the spot. The black velvet pants emphasized Haku's long and beautiful legs. "I love this." The novelist smacked her sister on the butt and grinned. "Next!"

Haku put the outfit to the side. Next up was something that very much resembled her favorite outfit. Black pants, again, but a different material and cut. A white shirt, cut the same way as her favorite shirt, but with long sleeves. As opposed to the classy and professional look from before, this outfit Neru had picked went for sex appeal. As it showed quite a bit of cleavage, Haku didn't feel very comfortable in it.

"Maybe a bit much." Neru wasn't really sure about this one. Haku looked uncomfortable, so she would end up putting it away and never wear it. "Next!"

"Neru…are you making fun of me?" Haku stood there, wearing a fake pair of glasses, a lab coat over her usual outfit. The entire "outfit" pretty much consisted of lab coat and fake glasses. It was more of a cosplay set than actual clothes.

Several more sets of clothes followed, exhausting Haku's stamina and the air in the small changing room quite rapidly. A green layered one-piece, a cyan-green dress with a black top below it, a black turtleneck with a blue brooch and azure sky-colored jeans, followed by some more extreme outfits.

There was a gothic-style dress with many frills and ribbons, something that could only be called cyberpunk and was pretty revealing, an office lady outfit, a completely black kimono, a servant maid outfit, a bunny girl outfit, and many more. Neru had carried half the shop into the cabin.

The last thing Haku was almost forced to try on looked like something out of a Russian espionage movie. It was a black coat that reached down to her ankles and served no purpose than to look dark and gritty. The look was only enforced further by the skintight pants and dress below the coat. Haku could have easily been mistaken for a spy in these clothes.

It was getting really hot in the room, both because of Haku's continuous efforts to keep up with Neru's commands and Neru getting really horny after seeing her partner in all the different outfits.

"There's a couple I wanna buy," Neru said. "Including the one you're wearing right now."

Haku liked the outfit herself. Russia was a beautiful country. The outfit didn't show any skin and it sort of made her feel more secure. Like she had actually _become_ a spy.

"Then…this and that. And this one. You kinda need at least a pair of high heels for some of them." They stuck to a tight budget but they weren't poor, so Neru could actually afford to buy quite a few things. Only because they were on sale, though.

"Neru…I want a break…" Haku was exhausted and could barely stand. Neru wanted out of the room as well. They were not designed for two people in the first place. After packing up the clothes she wanted to buy, Neru headed out first, followed by Haku about three minutes later, wearing her old clothes again.

"We can come back later. I'll buy something for myself too. And we haven't picked swimsuits yet!" Neru had caught the shopping fever rampaging through the department store that day.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"Remind me, why do I always end up getting drunk when we go out…?"

Miku stood at the sink in the bathroom, looking into the mirror with sleepy, droopy eyes. After checking the bags under her eyes, she grabbed her toothbrush and started to get the taste of last night out of her mouth.

"I'm not even of drinking age yet…" The student sighed and thought about what would happen to her if someone ever found out about all of her wild nights.

"At least you take it better than most…" Luka looked sleep-deprived and worn out when she joined Miku in the bathroom. Miku was only wearing a long white shirt, one that was almost identical to the one Luka wore.

"Miku…you're using my toothbrush." Luka pointed at the green toothbrush that remained in the cup on the sink before she took it.

"My tongue spends so much time inside your mouth, does it really matter?" Miku was becoming more and more sassy as she spent her days with Luka.

"_Touché_." Luka smiled for a second and then proceeded to use Miku's toothbrush to get the bad aftertaste of a party evening and a hot night out of her system.

They both brushed in silence, both of them very exhausted. With at best six hours of sleep after partying like that, that much was to be expected. They didn't even want to know how chaotic things had been on Gumi's end.

"We should check on them, shouldn't we?" Luka wasn't even trying to sound like she wanted to.

"Your deceit levels are crumbling down, Luka. I can tell you didn't even want to get up." Miku looked at her partner from the side and sighed. "I know how you feel, but after we got ourselves into this mess, we have to clean it up." Miku only hoped that the "cleaning up" was purely metaphorical in nature.

Miku finished brushing first. She took the single cup, filled it with water, and cleaned her mouth. "I can still taste the alcohol…"

The second she was done, the doorbell rang.

"I'll go." Miku put down the cup, walked past Luka while caressing her shoulders and forced herself down the corridor to the apartment door.

When she looked through the peephole, she recognized the face and blond mane. Miku opened the door and faced a very roughed-up Lily and an extremely worn-out and sleepy Gumi almost kneeling next to her. They both looked like a mess. There were two scratch marks on Lily's left cheek. And they reeked of alcohol and worse.

"The power and water in her building went out…Sonika is staying behind, waiting for a mechanic." Lily's voice was still as rough as the evening before, but her accent was gone.

Miku was hugged from behind. Her partner's breasts pressed on her back, forcing Miku to lean forward. "Mornin'," was all Luka could get out.

"Can we use your shower? The power an—" Lily was interrupted by Miku who stepped back, almost making Luka fall over.

"Sure, sure…come in. Just…keep it down." Miku knew that none of the four would make a huge racket, but better safe than sorry. "What happened to your cheek?" Miku was a tiny bit curious.

"Gumi, you can go first." Lily offered the green-haired girl the first shower and followed Miku and Luka to what served as living room where they sat down. It was a pretty chaotic room. Empty bottles, clothes, and dishes were all over the place. Miku hadn't cleaned the day before.

They just sat there in silence, each of them fighting their own headache and hangover, until Luka got up and started to make coffee. She was only able to find two clean cups, but Luka started brewing anyway.

"Sooo…" Miku started, her voice really quiet and low.

"Things got…a lil' out of hand." Lily rubbed her cheek and thought about the last night. "The moment we entered Gumi's apartment, she started to sing and blurt out all kinds of dumb stuff. She was totally gone. Sonika put her in bed, showed me the couch, and gave me a woolen blanket, heading off to bed as well. I have no idea when it happened, but when I came to, Gumi was right on top of me, half naked, and my cheek hurt like hell. Could be my imagination, but I'm pretty sure she smooched me while I was sleeping."

"Not the worst I've heard…" Luka said, and Miku sighed.

"I checked on Sonika, but she was out cold on the floor, sound asleep. Gumi had thrown up again. The bed's a real mess. That was about five in the morning. I spent the next two hours leaning on the couch, half asleep, while Gumi reeked of vomit behind me." Lily finished her story and took the cup filled with hot goodness from Luka. "Thanks a lot."

"Didn't know Gumi was such a lightweight." Luka took a sip from her own cup and then handed it Miku. They had no problem sharing each other's stuff. They were long past trivial issues like that.

"She downed vodka like it was water, Luka. Even I would be all over the place like that. I'm surprised you're fine, Lily." Miku took a large gulp of coffee and gave the cup back to Luka, rubbing her cheeks.

"Got a liver of steel, I tell ya." Lily smiled awkwardly and sighed. "Gumi doesn't even remember anything past us singing 'Resonance.' I'm not hot on telling her."

"I can imagine." Miku was surprised that Luka hadn't made any impish comments.

"So, what ya gonna do now?" Luka looked at Lily. They were barely acquaintances, but Luka liked the girl.

"Look for a place to stay. A job, I guess. Can't go back. Not sure what I'm gonna do until—what the fuck was that?" Lily almost dropped her cup when a loud bang from outside startled her. Luka and Miku almost fell over as well. When she went to the window and looked out, Luka found nothing to be wrong in particular.

Miku had a bad feeling, so she walked to the bedroom and looked out the window. "Our problems just went up in smoke. Literally." Miku was pale, even for having a hangover.

Luka and Lily joined the green-haired girl hastily and saw what was making her go white. The apartment building right across from the one they were in—Gumi's apartment building—was giving off large amounts of black smoke from the top floor.

Seconds later, they heard the sirens of the firefighters approaching. Almost simultaneously, their doorbell rang again. Sonika, looking not quite as worn out as the rest of them, was there. "Apparently, more than just the power and the water is out," Sonika sighed.

Miku started cleaning some cups and dishes while Luka got dressed in the bedroom. Lily and Sonika sort of just stood by and looked at Miku's back.

"Is your back okay?" Lily asked Sonika. "You kinda slept on the ground." Lily was all of a sudden a little uncomfortable with the situation. Sonika made her a little nervous.

"Had worse mornings…this comes really close to the top, though." Sonika didn't even make an effort to smile. Instead she sighed, depressed. "I guess we can pretty much buy a new bed after Gumi's little accident. Is she still in the shower?"

"The water stopped a few minutes ago, so I guess she's about done." Miku realized only then that Gumi had no change of clothes. "Either of you bring over some clothes?"

Both Lily and Sonika shook their heads. Not wanting to shout, Miku stopped what she was doing and went into the bedroom, where Luka was putting on a black turtleneck.

"I'll give Gumi a change of clothes, but Lily and Sonika won't fit into my stuff," she told Luka. Miku went to the big wall drawer and picked out some everyday clothes she didn't wear very often.

She then knocked on the bathroom door. A quiet "Yes?" told her that at least Gumi hadn't fainted in the shower.

"I got you some clothes. Wear them. Throw the old ones in the basket. I'll give them back to you when we wash them."

They probably stunk of alcohol and a multitude of other things Miku didn't want to think about. The door opened just a little and Miku passed the clothes to a soaked Gumi. "There's a hairdryer in the drawer."

When she went back into the living room, Miku didn't quite know what to say, so she sat down and pressed a hand to her forehead before letting out a big sigh. "Okay…the power and water went out…then some idiot set the apartment building on fire. What's gonna happen next, a submarine falling from the sky?"

Luka walked up behind Miku and putting her hand on her head. "You're being too cynical here, Miku. It's not uncommon that this stuff happens. At least, not on the big scale." Luka walked past her partner and handed each Sonika and Lily a small pile of clothes. "I guessed your sizes, but these should fit."

As if it was her cue, Gumi showed up, still worn out and beat. She was wearing a long white pleated skirt and a matching white t-shirt. It didn't look bad on Gumi. What looked bad were the bags under her eyes, her unkempt hair, and the way she walked.

"I'll go next, if you don't mind." Lily looked at Sonika and then to Gumi. "I can still taste what went through her head last night."

Nobody wanted to argue with that or imagine it. They all had had a pretty bad morning.

Gumi sat down right next to the drawers and leaned against them, tired enough to just fall back asleep where she sat. At least she was not reeking of alcohol anymore. But the taste in her mouth hadn't gone away. Luka made a new pot of coffee. They had enough cups now, thanks to Miku.

Nobody made any unnecessary comments or tried to strike up a conversation. They were all thankful for some silence. It had been a while since Miku had dealt with a hangover this bad. That they needed to go to the studio later that day and even take Gumi with them only made everything worse.

Luka was acting considerate for once and handed out two cups with fresh, hot coffee that might as well have been life elixir for Gumi. Sonika looked a little rough too, but not anywhere as bad as the rest of them.

"Luka, when are we supposed to show up at the studio?" Miku looked at the clock. The two of them had already showered and fixed their appearance for the bigger part, but they were both not exactly ready to work just then.

"Three. I'm not sure what they want, they didn't tell me. Only that it's important to be there on time." Luka pinched the bridge of her nose and yawned. Hopefully it was not as important as they made it sound.

"I have seventeen unanswered calls in my mailbox." Sonika wasn't eager to leave. There were things she still had to do in Japan.

"Sorry, Sonika, but can you take Gumi and Lily with you to a hotel or something? I like you guys, but leaving you alone in my place isn't my thing." Luka understood why Miku didn't object. It was pretty much common sense to not leave anyone alone in their apartment.

"I hope we can go back to Gumi's place before that happens. The firefighter sirens went quiet a while ago. Maybe I should check." Pulling herself up, Sonika left for the door and looked out. There was no more smoke coming from the building and it looked otherwise fine. But there was something else that caught her attention.

"How do you feel?" Miku sat down next to Gumi, who was still halfway in a different world.

"Horrible…" Gumi took a sip of coffee and let her head hang. "Never had a total blackout before."

"It happens. At least it happened to me…a couple of times." Miku gave Luka a special look, but the pink-haired woman just stuck out her tongue, then grinned. "It's fun while it lasts, but the morning after is always terrible," Miku added with a sour expression.

"You should take it a little slower next time. You went way overboard with your drinking. I'd end up puking all over the place too if I downed vodka like you did." Miku was both impressed and a little worried.

"Yeah…figured that one out a little late. I barely remember anything from the karaoke. What did I do? Or…do I even want to know?" Gumi wasn't sure she would like to hear about herself puking everywhere.

"You managed to reach the toilet before you threw up, so no damage done there. Beside that, nothing you should regret doing."

"I vaguely remember kissing Lily…did I just imagine that or…?" Gumi's memory of the evening before was cloudy_ at best._ And considering how much she had drunk, that was a small miracle on its own.

"Oh, you did. I wouldn't worry about that, though. Sonika didn't mind, and Lily seemed rather pleased." Miku smiled and remembered the blond girl's priceless expression.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time…" Gumi sighed again. They were going to break a record of some sort with all the sighing.

"Judging by Lily's expression, it definitely was for her."

Luka secretly exited the living room, passed the bathroom, and found Sonika at the front door, talking with some sort of firefighter. They were just about done talking when Luka showed up behind Sonika.

"What did he want? Keep the door open, I need some fresh air." Luka had been wanting to talk to Sonika alone anyway. Now was a good chance.

"They don't know the details themselves, but the power and water will be out for a few days in the building. Not only that, but the moron who set his apartment on fire spread poisonous fumes all over the place. The whole building is gonna be under quarantine for a few days." Sonika held her head and sort of wished she was still drunk. "I guess it's true when people say that bad things happen all at once."

"What are you gonna do now?" Luka remembered that it was not only Sonika and Gumi who suddenly had no apartment to stay at. Lily was sort of out there too.

"I guess I'll take Gumi to a hotel for the time being. What is Lily gonna do?"

"She was hoping to crash at Gumi's place until she found a place of her own. I guess that idea's falling flat now." Luka loved herself some dangerous developments, but too much was too much. "I would offer to let her stay at my place, but you can see how that's not an option."

"Some people really don't think things through, I guess." Sonika looked at her cell phone and went through a few messages she had gotten since the day before.

"About Lily…don't you think they make a good couple?" Luka was often rude, indecent, brazen, and sometimes even annoying, but on rare occasions she proved to have amazing insight into other people's emotions.

"I know where you're going with this, Luka. Yeah, I think they fit nicely together. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. I love Gumi. But sometimes I think I'm not being a good sister at all."

"Want to hear what I think?" Luka offered serious advice pretty rarely. Sonika just nodded and made an approving grunt.

"Letting her go won't work. Gumi is obsessed with you. If you just break up with her, it'll be a worst case scenario. I agree with what you think. It's not a good relationship if one of you is thousands of miles away all the time." Luka made a short break. "Gumi doesn't care about that, but I think deep down she's pretty lonely. She just hides it from us."

Sonika didn't say anything yet. Luka didn't beat around the bush, and Sonika was thankful for that. Dealing with endless subtle hints and trying to decipher cryptic analogies had gotten old years ago.

"Gumi needs to be stolen. She needs to fall in love with someone else and it needs to be her who realizes you two love each other but you live in different worlds. Don't get me wrong, if you were normal people it would be an entirely different story. But you're both stars. People pry into your private lives. You won't be able to hide forever."

"That's different from what you said before."

"It really depends on what you feel is best. What I said on the monorail wasn't wrong. To break up because of your jobs, your lives, that's just wrong. If there is any reason you want Gumi to like someone else, then it's because you realize that you can't be there for her all the time. It's not a relationship if you only see each other once or twice a year."

"So you're telling me that ending this because of our jobs, our lives would be wrong, but ending it because I know someone else would be a better partner than I ever could is okay? You're really complicated, Luka."

"A woman needs some mystery about her." Luka grinned. "And honestly, your situation _is_ complicated, no doubt about it. I understand you when you say you love her. But would you give up your job, your life, to be with her? Or rather, do you believe Gumi would want you to or be happy if you did?"

Sonika said nothing. She didn't need to. They both knew what kind of reaction Gumi would have.

"You think that Lily girl fits the bill? And I'm asking hypothetically."

"She's nice, a bit wild. I can't really tell how well their personalities work together, but at least they look nice together. And from last evening, it's pretty clear that Lily doesn't mind liking girls. If you want to try and see if Lily can handle her, I'll help you. But you have to be absolutely sure about it. No panicking later, or trying to undo things." Luka looked very seriously at Sonika. They had not spent a lot of time together, but Sonika trusted her.

"Let me…think about it, okay? I'll give you an answer before I leave for Europe in a few days."

"I'm okay with whatever you do. I told you both sides of my thoughts, and that's all I can do for you now." Luka patted Sonika on the shoulder. "Think it through. Nobody is hurrying you."

Luka went back into the apartment, leaving Sonika behind. The door was not closed completely, so the woman could come in whenever she wanted to.

"Mystery, huh?" Miku was leaning against the wall next to the door, her eyes closed, her arms crossed in front of her.

"Eavesdropping isn't nice, Miku."

"You're one to talk. I do agree with what you said, though. Gumi's asleep in the living room and Lily is still showering. You picked a good moment to come out with this." Miku stepped up to Luka and grabbed her hand. "I hope this doesn't blow up in your face. I wanna see Gumi happy. She's my friend. Don't screw it up, Luka."

"Do I ever screw up important things?" Luka was using a serious tone and Miku found herself unable to name even one occasion where Luka screwed up something non-trivial. "See? It depends on Sonika and what she thinks is best for Gumi."

"Sometimes I don't know which one the real Luka is—the one I'm talking to right now, the serious and mature Luka, or the one that's with me usually—the silly but funny, the let's-get-the-underage-girl-drunk Luka." Miku turned around and let her partner hug her from behind.

"They're both me, silly. You should know that." They still were standing there when the bathroom door opened and Lily came out, looking much better than before.

"Alive again. Oh, did I interrupt something?" The blond girl took a step back. She was wearing Luka's clothes, a crimson tank top and a black skirt reaching barely her knees, and she looked a bit like the songstress.

"Nothing in particular." Luka grinned, pulled Miku around and kissed her briefly before stepping away. "I'll tell Sonika the shower is free."

Miku was left behind with Lily, and the two of them almost automatically headed for the living room, where Gumi was sleeping in a corner.

"You two make a really great couple," Lily said when she sat down next to Gumi. She didn't seem to realize the enormous irony of what Miku was seeing.

"We have our differences, but we get along. Which is more than can be said for most couples. Most people say that you can just have a nice relationship if you love each other, but that's just not true. That's only part of it."

"I wish I had a relationship like that. All the ones in the past were pretty much catastrophes. I don't think I've ever had a relationship that's held out for more than a month. How long have you two been together?"

"A while. To be honest, we don't really count the days. I didn't think it would work out at first. But Luka can be really caring." Miku was surprised at how long she had been with Luka. It started out as an experiment and against the odds, their relationship worked out really nicely.

Lily poked Gumi's cheek and grinned when she started to make a few weird sounds. "You two are really different from how I imagined you to be. Luka looks like the perfect woman on TV and you're the innocent but determined newbie. It's so different from what you two are really like."

"What about you? You said you were in a band. What kind of music did you people make?" Miku wanted to change the topic. She wasn't comfortable talking about her work with Lily right then.

"Mostly Zatsune-style things." _Zatsune_ referred to a type of music that was rough, much like metal, but didn't involve shouting or screaming. In a way, it was a mix of modern rock and power metal.

"That's really…different. That song you sang with Gumi, 'Beatrix,' that was Zatsune style, right?" Miku was intrigued by the new genre of music.

"My voice isn't really all that good for pop and that stuff. I'm more suited to that kind of music. And yeah, 'Beatrix' was Zatsune style. I guess I have to look for a new band now, though." Lily let her head hang. It wasn't easy to find bands playing Zatsune music. It was a new genre and still growing.

"I can play the bass." Luka had joined them in the living room and their conversation, sitting down next to Miku. "You can play the guitar, right Miku?"

"I totally know where you're going with this, Luka, but no way in hell do we have time to play in a band and do our jobs seriously at the same—" Miku was interrupted by a glare.

"Really? We have time to party and the other day you complained about just sitting around. I thought you'd be all over this." Luka paused and seemed to reach enlightenment just then. "You _suck_ at the guitar, don't you?"

Luka felt a wave of pain running through her body, originating from a pinch on her arm. "Okay, you're on, Luka. I've never seen you play the bass. If you're worse than me, we're not going to do anything. If you're better than me, I'll listen to your crazy idea." Miku stood up and went to their bedroom. Her guitar had stayed in the closet ever since she had taken it to Luka's place to practice.

Luka gave Lily a thumbs-up sign and left as well, searching for her bass. She was confident that no matter how good Miku was, she could beat her.

Lily was left behind, wondering if she should even say anything. She wanted a band so she could make some money. Well, she could always tell them that while she appreciated the idea, she couldn't very well form a band with stars.

The two came back pretty quickly, Miku wielding an average-looking guitar and Luka carrying an very expensive-looking bass. It even had some kind of brand name on it.

"I'll go first." Luka grinned wide and filled the air with an amazing rhythm. Lily just sat there, her mouth wide open. If she didn't hadn't better, she would have guessed Luka was a professional musician who'd played the bass her whole life. Two minutes later, Luka finished and watched Miku's sour face. The green-haired girl knew right away that she was fighting a lost battle.

"You and your goddamn talent. Okay, then. Let's assume I play the guitar and you play the bass. Lily, what else do you even need for a band?" Miku was in a foul mood now, but Luka seemed delighted and clung to Miku, who tried repeatedly to get her to back off but gave in after the third time she shoved Luka away.

"I can play a supporting guitar, but we'd need at least a drummer and someone on a keyboard. It really depends on the type of Zatsune you're going for, but for the harder stuff we'd need a second bass." Lily was counting people on her fingers. "Then someone for the vocals, and I guess either of you—"

"Don't be silly. Me? Singing music like that? Are you serious?" Luka started to laugh and then poked Miku's cheek. "And you can forget Miku as well. No, you should do the vocals. You have a nice, powerful voice."

"Are you two seriously thinking about this? Luka, first, we could only do this incognito because Krypton would have our asses if we violate our contracts. Secondly, never mind the aspect of having time, where would we get the other people? Not to mention we would need people who could keep quiet about who we really are. And then we would even need to disguise ourselves. I don't like this idea." Miku was no longer fighting back. Once Luka had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her.

"That's wrong, Miku. We're forbidden to produce any music for a different _label_. If we operate as an independent group, we won't have a label, and thus there is no breach of contract." Luka was always great at finding loopholes and ignoring the other problems.

"I give up." Miku hung her head. She was raising the white flag.

"You two, I wasn't being serious. There is no way I could possibly make a band with you two! You're stars, I'd feel bad if—" Lily was starting to think she was never going to be allowed to finish one of her sentences as long as Luka was around.

"Are you going to turn _me_, Luka Megurine, down when I am asking you to be in your band?" The songstress was quite skilled when it came to manipulating people.

"No, I mean—" Lily now understood well why Miku had given up. There was no way out of this one. "Fine. But where do we get a drummer and keyboarder?"

"One of my cousins plays the keyboard. Well, she used to, until a few years ago," Miku said. "But I doubt she will join. She's really shy and doesn't handle other people very well."

"Are you talking about Haku?"

"Yes. Haku." Miku could feel her headache coming back, worse than ever.

"I can't handle her very well…" Luka looked a little depressed.

"I'll ask her, but I doubt she'll join. Don't get your hopes up." Miku looked at Luka from the corner of her eyes. "Don't mess with Haku if you value our relationship, is that clear?" Miku didn't have to say it twice.

"At least she's not even close to being a risk about ratting us out. Miku plays the guitar, I play the bass, Haku the keyboard—" Luka stopped, knowing that Miku would interrupt her anyway, and as usual, Luka was spot on with her timing.

"If she joins. Which I _doubt_." Miku knew just how atrociously bad Haku was with other people. Going on stage in front of even a dozen people she didn't know would probably wreck her nerves completely.

"Yes, yes. Lily on supporting guitar and vocals. Does Gumi play anything? Miku, do you know?" Luka didn't mind going through with crazy, spontaneous ideas like this one. She had yet to find herself in a situation she couldn't talk her way out of.

"I never asked her. Luka, give me some tissues, or better yet, wake her up, she's drooling on my clothes." Miku didn't mind lending clothes to her friend, but she wasn't keen on getting drool on them. "And besides that, you plan to drag Gumi into this as well? Haku is one thing, as she's not under any contract, but Gumi just switched labels!"

"Let her make that decision herself. We're not going to be doing something soon anyway. We'd need a practice room and we'd need to actually come up with something decent before we could even try a small audition. We would have to avoid the big places since they're not going to let us play without identifying ourselves."

"There you go again, running away with an idea and only thinking things through halfway. Whatever am I supposed to do with you?"

Shrugging, shaking her head slightly and sighing, Miku saw no reason to further seriously argue the issue. At least not this morning. Or noon. Whatever the current time counted as.

~~~ Hear My Song! ~~~

"This is Mr. Yamada, who will supervise any future productions of you two. He is also the chief supervisor for any co-productions between you two, like 'Magnet'." One of the board executives was introducing a middle-aged man in a suit to the two girls. Despite his receding hairline, his round face and his small stature, he gave a professional impression.

"I'm looking forward to working with you." Yamada's eyes half-closed and he gave both of them a slight nod before talking about a few administrative issues with the executive. Miku and Luka simply returned the nod, bowed slightly, and returned his formal greeting likewise.

They had nothing else to do in the office that day. They had simply been called to meet the new staff member they would be working with. Luka had already received a text message from her manager, a long complaint about the numerous calls and file requests Yamada had already made.

Gumi had, thankfully, not been called in. After being woken up by Miku, she was left in Lily's care, who, with borrowed money from Luka, took her downtown, looking for a place they could stay long enough to make Gumi's apartment come out of the danger zone.

While Gumi was only moderately knowledgeable about the internet, Lily proved to be a real asset in the area. Quite contrary to the impression she gave, she was good with computers, having dated a networking admin for a while.

"Living in Tokyo is worse than a survival game on the hardest difficulty." Lily clicked through about a dozen tabs in her browser, scrolling, opening new tabs and then closing some. She did all of it a bit too quickly for Gumi to get a good look.

After last night, and with Sonika soon to leave, Gumi wasn't really looking forward to sharing a place with anyone but her sister. The little time they had together was precious, so despite the fact that Gumi liked Lily, she didn't want to waste her time. Lily wasn't going to run away, Sonika was, and that soon.

Though, also because of the last night, she couldn't get herself to just tell Lily off. After all, the girl had no job, no place to stay, and Gumi was a friendly and caring person at heart. No matter how much she wanted to be with her sister, she couldn't act that selfishly without ending up hating herself over it, ruining any time she spent with Sonika regardless.

"I'm sorry you have to put up with me." Lily didn't mind imposing on people some, but there was a limit to everything. Luka and Miku put her up to this idea and even gave her some money. They hadn't mentioned the whole band idea to Gumi yet, and those two had left the precise timing of asking or simply telling Gumi also to the blond rock songstress in training.

"Don't worry about it. I think you should plan ahead a little more, though. What would you have done if you hadn't run into us?" Gumi didn't like it when people were so very careless.

"That's not the first time I've heard that. My mom and dad kept telling me that too. So did all my teachers. I'm just too impulsive for my own good. After busting a fuse, I almost always regret it. Not this time, though. It's not every day that you get to hang out and party with some real stars."

"Just don't treat me like a celebrity. I like Miku and Luka so much for exactly those reasons. They're not snobs. At my old label, there were some really terribly arrogant and ignorant people. I can't stand it when someone acts like they're better than someone else."

"Hadn't planned on it. You have to understand that many normal people that work everyday jobs idolize those that don't, like you. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you're something better when people act like you really are. How about this place?"

"Lemme see…big enough for two, the rent's a bit more than my current place…it has a kitchen already? Huh, the comments warn of rowdy neighbors? Maybe that's why the rent is that low for a place that size. What's the loca—oh." Gumi was supporting herself on Lily's shoulder, reading the entry for the apartment on the PC screen. Thank god they were fairly large in this net café.

"Isn't that…?" Lily didn't trust her memory and entered the address in google, getting a satellite map of the area. When she zoomed in, the red bubble showed a place she was kind of familiar with. "You don't think they mean _her_ with the rowdy neighbor?"

"It…wouldn't really surprise me, honestly. She can get quite loud sometimes. And she's not exactly Miss Restraint either. So the apartment right below Luka's is free…maybe I should just get my stuff over there. I hang out a lot with those two anyway."

"Are you sure? I didn't mean to make you move apartments, Gumi." Lily suddenly felt like she'd jumped across the line of how much she wanted to impose on Gumi with rocket boots.

"If the place has an extra room, I don't mind. I just didn't want you to take permanent residence on my couch." Gumi did get lonely when Sonika wasn't around, which was most of the time, even with Miku and Luka now eating up a large chunk of that loneliness. Having Lily around wouldn't be so bad. Once she had a job, they could split rent too.

"Do you have your cell phone with you? The landlord's number is written here and we can't really crash tonight at Luka's place. I was planning to borrow some money from Luka for a cheap motel, but if we get your things quickly and quietly, that won't be an issue." Lily pressed _print_ on the article regardless, keeping it just in case.

"The building is off-limits. You can't just get in there. They said it's poisonous." Gumi was concerned about what Lily was thinking.

"It's only bad for you if you spend a lot of time there. That's why they quarantine buildings. It was the same when we accidentally burned down a small apartment during a party. The other apartments were all off-limits for habitation because of that."

"Miku, they're over here!"

Luka had walked just past them. She stopped and took two steps back, waving to a green-haired girl on the other side of the room.

"So, how's the apartment hunt going, you two?" Luka had thought long and hard about a weird nickname she could give the two, but she hadn't come up with anything. On the opposite side, "Negitoro" came to mind when she tried to think about a nickname for Miku and herself. It made her cringe.

"Going well, thanks to you being a really bad neighbor." Lily couldn't hide her grin, and even Gumi had to turn away, trying hard not to laugh. "Whoever lived in the apartment below you left and apparently complained to the landlord enough that they even put 'rowdy neighbors' in the posting."

Luka put a finger to her cheek. "So _that_ was why they kept hammering on my floor! I thought they were just partying really hard." Luka seemed rather surprised by how that one had turned out. Surprised, and without a single shred of guilt.

"Well, that makes things simple. You two going to go with sleeping bags for today?"

Luka leaned against the cubicle wall, which creaked dangerously under the burden of her weight. Seconds later, Miku arrived and shoved her off the wall.

"That's not designed to support gluttonous women." Miku tried to keep her voice down, but she wasn't in the mood to fool around.

"But you weren't even leaning against it, Miku!" Luka knew exactly what her girlfriend meant and played the naïve girl on purpose.

"Why, you…!" She pulled Luka's beret down in her face and turned to the other two, who watched the comedy routine with ever-growing amusement. Lily and Gumi smiled at each other.

"I'm going to move permanently out of my old apartment. It's kinda small anyway, and the rent is bad. So are the neighbors. The apartment below Luka's is free, so I'll take that, together with Lily," Gumi informed the couple in a matter-of-fact way.

"I hope you won't regret that." Miku rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb at Luka. "She's noisy."

Not letting that sit with her, Luka swiftly moved both her hands under Miku's shirt, groping her, making the novice songstress let out a startled noise. Everyone in the café raised their heads, trying to figure out where the high-pitched "Kyaaah!" sound had come from.

Gumi and Lily took Luka by her arms and dragged her away before Miku had a chance to retaliate. The pink-haired woman was, Gumi thought, maybe a little suicidal sometimes. But…neighbors. That wasn't such a bad outlook.

Hopefully the walls were thick. She wouldn't be able to face the two with a straight face if she overheard them having sex.

~~~ End of Concert IX ~~~


	10. Old and New

A/N: This is unedited and the first chapter after a while so typos are pretty likely.**  
**

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert X**

_New and Old_

"I'm never... gonna help you... move furniture.. again..." Luka sunk down at the end of the couch they had just carried from one building to the other. "And... I... never want... to see stairs... again in my... life." Breathing heavy and sweating even worse, Luka swiped the flood from her forehead with the back of her hand.

Gumi was leaned against the other end of the couch, Lily was sprawled out on the ground and Miku was the sole survivor, having escaped the suicide mission by a stroke of luck, winning rock paper scissors.

"At least we're done now..." Lily had never felt that tired out before. There was still a plethora of stuff to get from Gumi's apartment, but for now, they had the minimum furniture to stay the night. Thanks to Miku and a few amusing phone calls, they had already gotten the keys to the place right below Luka's.

"We really need to find ourselves a few male friends for situations like this." Crawling over to the small table they had brought in earlier, Luka grabbed one of the drinks Miku had just brought from the kitchen. They were nice and cold.

"Don't be such a drama queen. A real workout is not gonna kill you." Miku stretched, having carried her own fair share of things. The majority of Gumi's stuff, as Lily had none to speak of, was still over in the other apartment but that was something they could take care of the next day. Or the day after that. She wasn't too keen on going all those stairs up and down another dozen times.

"Thank you two so much.. for helping us." Gumi would have bowed to them, but she could barely stand. Her arms felt like they had served to hold up a bridge. Throwing herself on the couch, Lily grabbed one of the drinks and reached over the armrest, giving it to her new housemate. "Thanks Lily."

"I'm too tired to even think of throwing a party." Luka emptied her glass, sitting on the ground right next to the table, Miku standing to her right. "Are you two gonna be fine, living together? It's one thing for Miku and me to share a place, but you two barely know each other."

"Let them, Luka. They're old enough to know what... well, at least Gumi knows what she's doing, I suppose." Miku remembered how exactly Lily ended up in Tokyo in the first place.

"Hey! Just 'cause I stormed off once doesn't mean I never think stuff through!" Lily pointed at herself. "You just wait, I'll show you what I mean soon!"

"Is that why you don't even have a single set of spare clothes? And why you're wearing borrowed ones right now? Or why you have basically no personal belongings of any description? I like you Lily but you're as much careful planner as I'm superhero." Miku shrugged and pointed at Lily.

"Cut her some slack Miku. Look at the poor thing, you basically crushed her heart." Luka couldn't help but grin. Lily and Miku were so completely different and yet both equally stubborn.

"Fine. I won't say any more." Letting out a sigh and sitting down, Miku didn't know why she always let Luka have her way. Lily needed to get some sense in her head and that soon. Otherwise she was going to run into a lot of problems, living in Tokyo. Unless you had a really well paying job like Luka, it was a battle for survival with your wallet.

"Now that I have silenced the beguiling demon, shall we go out and do something else? I don't want to see that couch for a while." Luka only twitched a little when her sides were poked by Miku's elbow.

"Who's a demon?" It was always difficult to tell for Gumi when Miku was truly angry or just playing along. One of the few hints were that if she was really angry, she'd frown.

"So you're not rejecting the beguiling part?" Luka's sneer was as thick as oil.

"You two are so sickeningly cute, I can't handle it." Feign a heart attack, Lily slowly slipped from the couch, tongue hanging out, eyes closed. Gumi's laugh signalized the end of their little act. "So, what did you two have in mind? I'm happy with anything as long as I get to hang out with you three."

"Now look, if you really want to do that, you got to stop treating us like we're some sort of enlightened entity. Sure, we're a little famous, but we're still just normal people in our free time. I get enough of the weirdo treatment at work and concerts, I don't need it from my friends." Miku sighed hard, looking straight at the blond girl.

Lily was so surprised that she was speechless for a few seconds. Looking a bit depressed she lowered her head. "Sorry. Didn't think it annoyed you that much." She looked like she had just stepped on a verbal landmine.

"Don't worry about little miss perfect here. Dealing with the fame comes with the job, she's just not used to it yet. She has a bit of a point though, you don't have to force yourself to do it. I don't care either way." Putting her hand on Miku's head, the songstress tried to defuse the situation a little.

"One day Luka... one day..." Miku uttered under her breath, the other two unable to hear her. "I don't feel like doing much so how about we just go and get some ice cream? The weather is nice and I don't want to be indoors all the time."

Luka gasped and looked at Miku like she was some sort of alien. "You want to go outside? Did someone replace my Miku?"

"Cut it out." Punching Luka's shoulders, Miku looked at the other two, knowing that her partner was going to go along with almost anything they would decide.

"Sounds good to me. It'll help me orientate myself. Don't really know my way around yet." Lily looked at her sweat soaked shirt. "I fear I'll have to borrow some more clothes though..."

"I'm not going anywhere looking like this either." Miku was equally sticky and uncomfortable. A change of clothes more than just a little necessary.

"You got some of your stuff here, right Gumi? Lend Lily something, Miku and I'll go up and change. Meet at the parking lot in thirty minutes."

"Why thirty minutes?" Lily didn't think just changing clothes would take that long.

"That's the minimum time we two need to shower together, dress and come down." Luka left it wide open as to why she knew the exact amount of time they needed. Lily blushed a little, unintentionally imagining Miku and Luka together in the shower.

"Wait, if you two need that long together, there is no way we-" Luka and Miku were already out the door by the time Lily realized the problem at hand. "Oh well. I can go without a shower. I just need something else to wear." Pulling a black hair tie from her pocket, Lily fixed her long hair into a massive ponytail in a few complex but fluid moves.

"I don't need that long in the shower. Maybe ten minutes. If we hurry, you can take one too." She wasn't just being nice. They were all reeking of sweat and she didn't really want Lily to stink the whole time they were out.

"That's awesome. Okay, less standing around, more showering." Shoving Gumi towards the bathroom, Lily smiled. "Don't worry, won't peek." Closing the door, Lily went into what was a basically empty bedroom, except for the actual bed and one small closet, and picked some of the larger looking pieces Gumi had. They asked her to treat them like normal friends, so she did.

Thankfully she wasn't that much bustier than Gumi, so most of what the green haired girl owned would fit her. An old jeans with a cyan colored girdle, a black tank-top, her own accessories and that was pretty much the whole outfit already, not counting her own shoes. Grabbing the clothes and going back to the living room, she left them on the couch and went into the kitchen, checking on what they had there. Beside the drinks Miku had brought over, they only had a few cans of coke and beer, which Luka must have brought over, and nothing to eat. She had forgotten just how much work it was to get a new apartment going.

Waiting for Gumi to finish showering was quite boring without a TV or a computer or even anything to entertain herself. Going out on the balcony, she took a good look at the area. From what Miku had told her, the next convenience store was about ten minutes on foot, the next supermarket roughly twenty. With a bicycle, half the time each.

To the other side were mostly just apartments. The next subway was relatively close by, which was very handy. The sun was too hot today so Lily retreated quickly in the shadow. Come to think of it, she didn't see any kind of entrance to the balcony in Luka's apartment. The layouts were the same, so why exactly...

Shrugging, losing interest and going back inside, Lily leaned against the wall next to the bathroom. She didn't even have a clock so it was hard to tell how long Gumi had been in there. Would she really finish in ten minutes? Most girls she knew took way too long in the bathroom, which was a huge pain on trips and camps.

Imagining some of the songs she could play, Lily started to move her fingers through the air as if she was holding a guitar. She got through a full song before the door opened and a soaked Gumi, covered by just a towel, came out, looking quite stressed. "Wow, you really were quick. I'm impressed."

Without delaying even another second, Lily took off her top and pants, not even in the bathroom yet. Gumi turned away, her face like a tomato, not knowing what to think of Lily's absolute lack of shame. The clothes remaining in a pile on the outside, the door closed and the water started up within seconds.

Going through the living room to her bedroom, Gumi saw that Lily picked out some of her clothes but those were things she very rarely wore anyway. As soon as she got her other stuff over, Lily could just keep those.

Getting dressed, her wet hair getting somewhat in the way, Gumi found that she didn't have a single clean bra here. Thinking about it, Lily did drop hers and there was no sign of there being one on the couch either. Putting on what she had, Gumi still felt quite naked. There was still just a little time before they had to meet Miku and Luka, so she went for it. Leaving the apartment with wet hair, black leggings, a red and black checkered mini-skirt and a white shirt, Gumi almost sprinted towards her old apartment.

One level above Lily were Miku and Luka, the former trying hard to keep the latter from starting anything lewd for that would delay them too much. "Shower does not include you washing my breasts." Slapping Luka's hands, Miku turned up the water to maximum, cleaning her hair of the shampoo. "Hurry up. You were the one who said thirty minutes." Grabbing her green towel, Miku didn't even bother properly covering herself and just dried herself up as quickly as possible.

"You're no fun when you're stressed." Luka didn't want to arrive late and piss off Miku so she did hurry up, even skipping the hair lotion she usually used after shampoo. "But I suppose I dug that hole myself."

Miku was already picking out clothes, nothing fancy, a white dress top with bare back cut, light purple hot-pants and white knee-socks completed by sneakers. Luka joined her two minutes later, going for a casual look. White, capri pants, a black top with half elbow length sleeves and sandals.

"How long do we have?" Luka sat down on the bed for a second, a bit out of breath from the hurrying. That had to be the fastest coed shower she had ever taken in her life.

"About five minutes. Let's slowly go down the-" Miku was grabbed and pulled back on the bed, Luka kissing her neck. "What's up with you today Luka? You're a little too psyched. Is it because Lily is now in our little group?"

"Can't I be clingy just because I feel like it?" Nibbling on Miku's ear, Luka really enjoyed some time alone with her for the moment. Having people over was fun but Miku wasn't really all that keen on kissing and making out while they were watching.

"I know you better than that. You're worried about Gumi and Sonika, right?" Miku grabbed Luka's hand and looked over her own shoulder. "It's that, right?"

"You're worried too, I can tell. But there's not much we can do. It's up to them to figure out their future. Moving her hands under Miku's dress, Luka blew some hot air against her neck. I think we're gonna be late." Luka glimpsed at the clock over the door. They had three minutes to go down.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"They're late! And where is Gumi?" Lily was the only one who had managed to get to the parking lot in time. It was a little weird to go without a bra, but it wasn't the first time she had done that. Hopefully Gumi didn't mind her sniping some panties from her.

After about five minutes of waiting and getting very bored and practicing some riffs, Miku and Luka finally turned up, not exactly in fresh condition. Looking at Miku, her dress was sliding off her left shoulder, her hair was a bit messy and her cheeks were flushed. "Wow, Luka." A knowing grin aimed at the veteran songstress, Luka put out her fist and Lily responded in turn.

"Wonderful, now we have two air-headed, spontaneous girls with the mind of an old man. I should open up a circus." Miku shook her head and looked around, unable to spot the other green haired girl. "Where did you leave Gumi?" Despite the blonde's personality, Miku didn't suspect Lily of anything.

"She was gone by the time I got out of the shower." Lily felt something soft touch and move over her back. "What are you doing Luka?"

"You're not wearing a bra, right? Did something happen with Gumi?" The devious grin on Luka's face was a clear sign that she wanted a positive answer to that. She loved herself some sudden developments.

"No. There just weren't any bra's to take. What's that grin for? Sonika would lynch me if I did something." Lily wasn't dense by any stretch of the imagination. She could definitely read between the lines.

"I'm not so sure about that." Looking up, Luka spotted Gumi approaching the group, coming from the building her old apartment was at, carrying a small bag with her. "There's our missing girl."

Rushing straight past Miku and Luka, Gumi, completely out of breath, dragged Lily away and behind a hard to see corner. "What's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost, Gumi."

"Don't ask weird question, Lily! Take the bag, there is a toilet room right around the corner." Turning slightly and blushing equally slightly, Gumi wondered why Miku hadn't said anything. "I can see your nipples poking through that top."

"Oh?" Looking down on herself, Lily noticed that too. "Definitely Luka's fault for asking me weird questions. I'll be back in a minute."

Returning to Miku and Luka without Lily, Gumi still hadn't managed to get rid of the color in her face. Miku launched preemptive measures against Luka right away, grabbing her hand just a little more forcefully than she needed to. "Okay, okay, I won't say anything. Sheesh Miku, you're really overprotective today."

"Are you gonna be okay Gumi? I know how hard it is to take care of someone that has nothing but nonsense on their mind. It's not something you can handle just on the side."

"Ouch." Luka pretended to flinch in pain and gave Miku a scolding look, something that completely and utterly had no effect whatsoever.

"She's not that bad. A bit irresponsible and impulsive but I can tell she's a good person." Gumi wasn't sure how serious Miku was about what she said. The girl liked to tease her partner apparently.

"If you take away the part of Luka where she constantly molests me, she's a good person too. Doesn't change that she can give me quite a headache."

"I'm standing right next to you, Miku. I can hear you."

"Oh, is that so? You never seem to be able to hear me when I try to stop you from doing crazy stuff."

"I just chose not to hear that." Whistling, Luka was completely ready to get punched again for saying something like that. She loved to pull Miku's strings a little.

"I think I can handle Lily. She doesn't seem as... wild as Luka. I'm sorry, Luka." Bowing hastily while apologizing, Gumi didn't notice that Luka's frown was very obviously fake.

"Green haired girls sure are mean."

"Does that make pink haired women abusive molesters then?"

"Reduced to my hair color, what a fate!" Acting as if she was about to faint, Luka pretending to fall, waiting for Miku to catch her. "The shame!"

Catching her partner indeed, Miku cringed. "What shame? I'm surprised you know that word to begin with you lustful seductress."

"It's a shame I don't get you to hold me like this more often, that's for sure." Certain that Miku would drop her right after, Luka quickly pulled herself together and got back up.

Lily came back just as Luka got back on her feet. "Aw dammit, I missed something funny didn't I?" One look at Gumi's face told her that much.

"Nothing much, just Luka being Luka. So, are we good?" Miku was eager to get away from the apartment, before anything else needed to be moved. She didn't count on being lucky at rock paper scissors a second time. Linking arms with Luka, Miku put on tinted glasses. "There's a lot of copycats around now so this much should be good..."

"Do people recognize you on the street a lot?" Slowly getting going, Lily was to Miku's left while Gumi was to Luka's right. Lily looked every bit the standard rock fan with her getup and hairstyle.

"It happens. Luka much more often than me. I think a lot goes towards people not suspecting that we would just walk around outside." Miku found a loose thread on Luka's clothes and made a mental note to cut it off later.

"What are you gonna do if you can't pull through with the band idea Lily?" For Miku, money had always been an issue and even though it really wasn't anymore now, she did worry about those things.

"Work in a convenience store, fry burgers, walk dogs, you know, the sort of things that always need someone doing it. I'm not anal about what kind of job I do. Would be cool if I could do something I like though."

"I can totally imagine you asking me if I want fries with that." Luka laughed out loud because she really could vividly imagine it.

"Would you like to order fries with that? We have an action for shakes, if your order exceeds five hundred yen, you can get one for free." Lily imitated a McDonalds employee almost perfectly. "I worked stuff like that before."

Luka was slightly bend over from laughing too much. Gumi tried to hold on to Luka to prevent going to her knees for the same reasons, with only mediocre success. Even Miku couldn't help but giggle, but not without covering her mouth.

"What would you like on your sub? The total makes eight hundred eighty five yen. Please come again. Welcome back, Mistress." Just pulling out one stereotypical phrase after another, all three of them looked amazed at the last one. "What? What'd I say?"

"You? Working in one of those maid shops? I would pay to see that." Luka was immediately thinking of Miku in a maid costume as well. Maybe she would borrow one from work. But how to make her wear it?

"I'm a total bombshell in a maid costume, just so you know. I'm not liable for whatever happens." Lily put both her arms behind her back and grinned wide. She was confident about her looks even compared to Luka or Gumi.

"Too bad, I'm only into green haired girls nowadays." Luka

"So Gumi wearing the outfit would work?" Lily quickly switched from Miku's side to behind Gumi and shoved her a bit in front.

"Green haired with a sweet tooth for spring onions." Luka looked to her partner with a questioning look.

"Nice save." Miku grinned.

"What about you, would Gumi in a maid outfit do the trick?"

"Hm... I wonder." Grinning, Lily started to tickle the sides of the short haired girl. "Maybe. She'd make a really cute maid. I like sexy but cute is good too."

Blushing after being told that, Gumi hoped she wouldn't need to actually put on a maid outfit any time soon. She'd be too embarrassed to do it. Lily was really blunt and she wasn't used to dealing with that. Luka was one thing but Lily made it a lot harder to just laugh and forget.

"That's all you two are going to talk about, isn't it? Who you want to seduce and take to bed." Miku made a cynical remark and earned an instant retort from her partner.

"Don't worry, I'll take you to bed myself later." Dodging the elbow hit and quickly linking arms again, the songstress knew Miku more than good enough to know she should maybe slow down a little. "So, what's your family like, Lily?"

"Parents got nothing to do with music, but we live right across the street of a big record shop that started dealing in CDs when I was little. Mom doesn't work and Dad's an office horse. Got two sisters, hot head and a freak."

"It's kind of worrying if you call someone a hot head or freak." Miku didn't look forward to ever meeting those people.

"Hey!" Lily was slightly offended but realized that Miku did have a point.

"What are your sisters like?" Gumi liked to know more about the girl she was going to share an apartment with.

"They're both heavy into indie music. You know, underground stuff that's barely known. Naoko, she's the hothead, is sixteen and I guess you could say she's in her rebellious phase. Had a big fight with mom, started to stay at friends places, dyed her hair crimson red, makes everyone call her Cul, the whole packet of indie rock band wannabe important person."

"You're almost a reasonable person next to that!" Luka continued her teasing.

"Says miss fake public personality!" Lily could fire back and it hit the mark. "My youngest sis is the freak. Naoko had a bad influence on her and she went way over the top with the whole indie thing. Couldn't even settle on a single color for her hair so it looks like someone shot her with a can of mixed dye. Wants to be called Galaco, whatever that's supposed to mean, and causes Mom a lot of grief."

"Your family is a little messed up." Miku's own family wasn't exactly role model material either, but at least nothing that bad.

"There's a reason I'm this far from home. Naoko was constantly asking me to let her join the band and Mai, the freak, wasn't any better, acting all high and mighty all day."

"Makes me happy I'm a single child." Luka didn't feel like making fun of Lily anymore. Sisters like that had to be really annoying.

"I bet you were a terrible headache to your parents." Miku didn't say pain but she could have bet that was, at times, also accurate.

"Guilty as charged. Park or outdoor cafe?" Stopping at the stairs that took them to the subway, Luka thought it would be nice to get an apartment near the park one of these days.

"Cafe." Miku and Gumi both agreed on that, too tired to walk around much in the park.

"I'll buy tickets." Miku was followed by Lily right away who wanted to know the setup of the subway lines, leaving Luka alone with Gumi.

"What do you think of Lily? And I'm not just talking about her personality."

"Did Sonika say something to you about me? You've been really pushy about this, Luka." Gumi might have been a bit innocent and naive but not to the degree necessary to not realize what Luka was doing. And the most obvious reason would be if Sonika said something.

"I can't speak for your sister but I think you'd both be happier if you managed to find someone to like that won't throw your entire life in turmoil if it comes out."

"No offense Luka but it's my life."

"Sure, and I'm your friend. If I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything."

"What did my sis say?"

"She loves you but she feels that both of you would need to give up their current lives to ever take it any further than what you have now. And that what you have now isn't healthy for you."

Looking away from Luka, Gumi didn't like it when she was all serious like that. What she said really rung true and she didn't like that even more. "Is that why you're pushing so hard with Lily?"

"You two seem like you'd make a good couple. I wouldn't worry about this if it looked like something you'd work out by yourself."

Her pride and her love for Sonika wanted her to make an angry retort but the fact that she rarely saw Luka genuinely caring and worried about someone that wasn't Miku stopped her from doing that. "I don't want to think about it... I mean... I'm not stupid, I know being with Sonika like that is a big risk for us both. And I can't see sis ever being content doing anything but music. I'm the same.."

"And you know you would both need to eventually give it up or get forced to. Because keeping something like that a secret forever just doesn't happen nowadays. Just give it some thought. Lily seems like a really great girl and I'm sure she would happily go out with you."

"I'll think about it." Gumi always did badly with things like that.

"Now cheer up, not dating your sister won't mean she stops loving you or you can't see her anymore. It's really just the sex that goes away."

"Miku is right, you're an old man in disguise."

"And that's my thanks for worrying?" Grinning, Luka patted the head of the green haired girl. "It'll work itself out."

"Oh, you're in trouble now, Luka." Lily had come back with Miku, only to catch Luka gently patting Gumi's head.

"I wasn't doing anything indecent." Luka defended herself from the accusing look Miku had in her eyes.

"I know. Because you know I'd lynch you if you did." Handing the two their tickets, Lily grabbed Gumi and pulled ahead, wanting to see more of the station as Miku had been very uncooperative in that aspect.

"So what was the reason for Gumi's depressed look?" Miku, left alone with Luka, the two of them slowly following Lily and Gumi, was curious what they had talked about.

"She figured out that I was pushing her to spend time with Lily. So she asked me about it and you know how I feel about outright lying to my friends."

"You have no problem whatsoever doing that."

"Friends, not fans, you...!" Luka pinched Miku's cheek gently. "I told her what I think and what Sonika said. She seemed pretty down but I know she understood where she and I are coming from."

"She's really going to need that ice cream now."

"You're so frugal it's painful. Live a little!"

"I want to own my own house some day."

"You make more money now in a month than you did before in a year, Miku."

"Old habits die hard. And you're way off. I make more but not like that. I'm not some world renowned US superstar."

"Miku, Luka, get a move on, the train is gonna leave!" Lily was shouting from the distance.

"That idiot... maybe she wants to put big signs above our heads that spell 'Celebrity here' next?" Luka cursed under her breath.

"Just walk slowly as if it isn't us. Have you ever felt like covering an existing song?"

"I've sung 'Final Countdown' on a party before. It was a total hit."

"Having a hard time imagining you doing that."

"You underestimate me." Advancing as slowly as they could, they missed the train. Seeing Lily glare at them from behind the train door, they couldn't help but giggle. "The next one is in fifteen minutes so why don't we use that very conveniently placed subways in the subway here and get a sub."

"I feel like hurting you now, Luka. The same way you're hurting language."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud."

"You pay."

"As if that makes any difference."

"Thought that counts."

"Yeah, yeah."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"They ditched us!" Lily threw herself into her seat next to Gumi and made a horrible face.

"It's your fault for shouting. They don't want the attention. If you ever need to call me, just use my real name."

"Isn't Gumi your real name?" Lily was a little confused now.

"No, no. Sometimes you're so silly. My parents are normal people so I have a normal name like others. Gumi is just cutting out the Me of my real name. Megumi."

"That's really simplistic. I mean, just cutting off the Me."

"Luka and Miku use my stage name but if you ever need to call for me like that, use my real name, okay?" Miku and Luka's behavior of avoiding the spotlight in their private time had rubbed off on her.

"I wonder what I would use as stage name..."

"Yuri?"

"Wow, so funny, I'm about to die of laughter." Rolling eyes, Lily poked Gumi's sides. "Miss originality or rather lack thereof."

"You're a fun person to be around."

"Likewise. Although I think you could let loose a bit more."

"For example?"

"If you want to try it out, I know just the thing. It's perfect to pay back Luka and Miku for ditching us, too. You ever done cosplay before?"

"You're not going to ask me to dress up as something lewd, right?"

"No. As Miku."

"I don't know of any cosplay shops around here, though."

"Dammit, should've goggled it back then."

"Let's postpone that for another time. Maybe when we aren't half dead from moving furniture."

"Oh yeah... sounds good." Realizing how exhausted she had been before, and the excitement of being with three stars slowly washing off, Lily felt really sore.

"Let's just wait for them at the station. This is Tokyo, it'll take maybe ten minutes before the next train comes."

"Do you... have any money? I'm kind of starving."

"There is a Burger King near the station if you want."

"I'm reminded of this awful job I had at that place but hunger beats that easy. I'll pay you back eventually, promise. And don't tell Luka, the jokes will never end."

"Yeah, yeah." Giggling, Gumi reached for her handbag and only hit air. "Lily?"

"Hm, what's wrong?"

"My money is in my handbag."

"So?"

"My handbag is in my old apartment."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Do they have street musicians at the station? You know the kind that tries to get money for playing in public."

"I think so. But you don't have an instrument, Lily."

"Don't worry I got us covered. Perfect to make you loosen up a little, too."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

To their surprise, Miku and Luka had run into a familiar face. Or more specifically, saw a familiar face from where they were hidden, sitting on a bench behind a crowd of people. Miku had first thought that it was just someone who looked exactly like her but that wasn't the case after all. There were no doppelgangers.

"That's one of the twins that live next to your cousins, right?" Luka talked about Miku's housing like she was already a permanent resident of her apartment.

"Yeah but..." Miku was more than just a little weirded out. Rin was there alright, together with a red haired girl she recognized as one of the waitresses from the coffee shop. The bread girl. But that wasn't what really weirded her out. "She's not supposed to have whatever giant cup breasts those are."

"Think they're bigger than mine?"

"They're obviously fake but why would she do this? I don't think she really needed to get any more attention than she already did."

"I wonder if they're bigger than Haku's. I think Haku is bigger than me."

"Is it because of that red haired girl? Is she trying to impress her? But even an idiot should be able to figure out there aren't middle school girls with breasts that huge..."

"If they're bigger than Haku' that means they're also bigger than mine. Hm, what size is Meiko?"

"Will you stop talking about breast sizes for a moment? Are you twelve years old now?"

"Well excuse me for being proud of my rack. I just don't want some little girl upstaging me."

"Why did I even ask?"

"You're not going over there to ask?"

"To be honest, Rin can be pretty... hazardous to have around. If she's with someone I barely know, I don't want to impose."

"Or you just don't have the guts to ask her why she is sporting fake tits."

"Do you have **any** decency at all Luka?!"

"Maybe somewhere in one of the drawers in my closet I rarely use. It's something to wear over your wrists, right?"

"You're the worst."

"I gotta say, it does look pretty impressive. Hard to judge from here but they're probably my size or bigger."

"Just how fixated on your own breasts can you be?"

"Oh, I'm plenty fixated on yours too. Can I fixate my hands on them?"

"You're really out of control today." Slapping Luka's hand as she tried to grope her, Miku sighed. It would be a pain if Rin saw her.

The blonde on the other hand didn't mind at all that she was being watched by a lot of people. In her mind, none of them knew that she wasn't really that busty herself. Or busty at all. Or not flat. Teto had been right, going out like that was really satisfying. It was quite tiring though. The unfamiliar extra weight was putting a bit of a strain on her shoulders.

The excitement of walking around outside together with Teto and secretly making out in a few hidden spots along the way had Rin pretty exhausted. "Can't wait to hit the shower."

"After that it's time to show me the stuff we bought again." Teto didn't spend much money so she could afford to buy some new clothes for Rin. It was a bit like buying new clothes for a puppet and the idea of owning Rin was pretty pleasant.

"You're insatiable Teto."

"Says the girl with the chest that would make even Ritsu jealous." Seeing Rin's face turn slightly red, she loved the reaction.

Teto knew exactly that treating Rin like she really was as busty as that made the girl incredibly horny and excited. The thrill of doing that was incredibly satisfying. She wasn't a sadist like Ritsu but she did have peculiar tastes.

Spinning around, her fake chest bouncing as she came to a sudden halt, Rin thought she had heard Miku's voice. Unable to spot her anywhere she figured it was just her imagination. She didn't need her anymore, she had a really awesome girlfriend now.

The train rushing in and making infernal noises as it came to a halt, Teto shoved Rin with her free hand, the other carrying two bags with clothes. She couldn't wait to see Rin dress up for her in clothes that all cleverly disguised her fake chest. There was something fascinating about playing with people's self-esteem like that.

Getting on the train, Rin could have sworn she saw Miku from the corner of her eye. But being able to turn around in a full subway train was something she could no longer do. Not with her chest like that.

"She almost spotted you. She was looking around for someone." Luka was standing with her back towards the tracks, right in front of Miku.

"That's because you made me squeal!"

"I didn't think you'd be so loud. I just touched your butt."

"Yeah, while there are dozens and maybe hundreds of people around."

"I touched your butt during the Magnet PV and you didn't mind."

"Because it wasn't on camera you pervert!"

"Anyway, from the way they acted, the redhead is one hundred percent sleeping with the blonde."

"Rin's fourteen, I can't imagine that."

"Especially because she is fourteen I can imagine that."

"Maybe I should ask Len about this."

"What do we do about the train? Lily and Gumi are waiting for us. Probably. Actually, considering this is Lily we're talking about, she already managed to get Gumi into trouble."

"You're confusing Lily with yourself."

"Hm, I'm pretty sure my breasts are bigger than-" Luka suffered another punch to the shoulder before she could finish her sentence.

"Give it a rest, boob maniac!"

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Follow me, follow me, I like you so much! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, now because of me, don't get mad, smile, calm down now! Bo Peep Bo Peep Bo Peep Bo Peep Bo Peep Bo Peep Ah!" Finishing the song, Lily struck a pose, her hands towards her already considerable audience, a huge grin on her face.

Earning a decent applause, Lily returned the things she had borrowed, a large radio from one a nearby coffee shop and a guitar from a street musician. Dancing and singing while playing was quite taxing but she made enough to pay for a decent meal, even after splitting half with the musician.

"I'm beat. Lucky they were playing the instrumental version just then. But that's one thing I can say about myself, I always have good luck going." Playing with the bills and coins in her hand, Lily wondered where the other two were. "Isn't it about time Miku and Luka showed up? And shame on you Gumi, not dancing with me."

"I don't know the routine! Or the lyrics! And I didn't know you could play the guitar, Lily." Gumi was fairly amazed by what she had just witnessed. It wasn't surprising people actually gave her money.

"What, you think I do? That's a good one Gumi. I just heard the song a few times in radio. I would've done the same with any other instrumental, you know?"

"I'm amazed you can pull stunts like that... maybe it's because I do this stuff professionally but I need to learn the routine and lyrics or I just can't do it."

"Nonsense. Come here. Excuse me!" Going back to the coffee shop she had just returned the radio to, Lily wouldn't let Gumi get away with saying something like that.

Not too far away, a slightly unnerved Miku just left the subway station, having forced Luka on a different line and then yet another, getting them there a few minutes earlier than had they waited for the next direct line. Both of them trying to force their way through the afternoon rush, Miku and Luka were exhausted when they finally got back to seeing daylight.

"Why in the world didn't we take your car?"

"Can't find four people in there..."

"True..."

"And driving at this time? I'd have bitten someone's head off by now." Luka leaned against a nearby wall, enjoying the cool. "How in the world are we gonna find those two now?"

"I hope they didn't wait in the chaos down there."

"Why are there so many people here?" Miku looked around and there was a lot more commotion than usual, even considering the time and day.

"Someone's playing music over there. Bet it's some new idol thing going on. Let's just go away, last thing we need is press being there and recognizing us." Luka pointed in the general direction down the street where loud music was coming from. "Why of all things 'Bo Peep Bo Beep from T-ara? I bet it's some kind of super cute looking girl that wants to appeal that way."

"You want to go and ogle her, don't you? You won't shut up about this for ages if I stop you so go. I don't care if ogling is all you do." Sitting down on the next best bench, Miku leaned back and tried to relax. The blaring music didn't make that easy however.

Luka, doing exactly as she was told for a change, Luka realized very quickly that whoever was playing the music wasn't singing to it. Was it just a dance gig? But what kind of idol would bother with that? Unable to get a good look because the audience was like a solid circle imprisoning someone in the middle, Luka climbed on a nearby chair and looked over the mass of people only to almost fall down, baffled.

Standing in the middle of the mass were Lily and Gumi, the latter trying extremely hard to follow Lily's dance routine, with decent enough success, having seen it once already. Both of them were visibly having fun, Luka could have sworn though that Lily had to force Gumi into doing that. Gumi wasn't **that** out-going.

Watching for another minute, the dance was over, leaving Lily panting and Gumi horribly embarrassed but looking quite satisfied. Drilling through the audience, Luka managed to get to the front, waving to Lily and Gumi, the latter blushing quite a bit. Both of them bowing to their audience, who expected them to introduce themselves or give an encore apparently, the girls escaped together with Luka.

Noticing a few people with cameras and cellphones having recorded their dance, there was no doubt that it would show up on the Internet really soon.

"You two done making the news?" Luka was quite amazed by the sudden dancing but she certainly didn't put something like that past Lily. "Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Taught myself, imitating PVs and stuff." Trying to get away from the crowd, Luka skillfully maneuvered them around people that were now trying to see what the big crowd behind them was all about. Finding Miku still relaxing, she whistle and waved her hand in an attempt to get her moving.

Miku's sixth sense, the Luka-and-trouble sense, was tingling and she noticed immediately why. The pink haired songstress was pulling both Gumi and Lily after her quickly away from the crowd. Following them, Miku caught up in no time. "What did you do now?" She was immediately searching the fault with Luka.

"Our newcomer here decided to have a dance gig and pulled Gumi into it. Isn't that right?"

"How did you know I convinced her to do it?"

"Because I can't imagine Gumi going up dancing in front of so many people without any practice or idea what she is going to do."

"You had fun, right?" Looking behind her briefly, Lily grinned with. It had a charming effect on Gumi, who looked away with a serious case of blush. "Stop!" Shouting, almost yelling, as if something was really wrong, the group stopped, a considerable distance from the crowd that was now slowly dissipating. "Burger!"

Gumi broke out in laughter when she realized that Lily was still holding on to the idea of buying a meal set with the money she made from the earlier dance action. Going inside the Burger King they had just passed, the other three waited outside.

"Are you okay Gumi?" Miku was a little concerned.

"I really had fun. It was weird and I was really nervous but people enjoyed watching me and it was really fun to try and keep up with Lily. It's... really different from what we do at work."

"Oh no. No. Absolutely not. **Absolutely not**, Luka. I know that look in your eyes. No. Just-"

"Stingy." Luka was shot down so hard, she felt like a rocket of rejection had hit her.

"Next time you should try it out too, Miku." Gumi still felt the adrenaline inside her and it was hard to just stand still. That the music was quite an ear-worm didn't help.

Luka felt victory like never before. If even Gumi asked her to try, Miku surely would give in. And right after Miku had tried to shoot down any chance of that ever happening.

"As if one impulsive person wasn't enough." Miku didn't agree but she didn't reject it anymore either, hoping to get out of it by offering a status quo situation. They had just finished talking with Lily returned, stuffing her face with the biggest hamburger she could buy. Holding another one in her right hand, still wrapped, she threw it in Gumi's direction, who, to her own surprise, had no problem catching it.

"Nice catch. Enjoy. Nothing better than food you bought with hard earned money right after you earn it."

"You're quite the player, Lily." Laying one arm around the blonde's shoulder, Luka had a smug grin on her face. "I bet you were popular back home."

"Ya not getting' any of my burger, Luka."

"Busted." Miku laughed as Luka rolled eyes. Gumi was fighting with actually eating the burger in the mean time. "Can we go? I'm not eager on someone recognizing us after we got away."

"Yes, mom." Pretending to be annoyed, Luka laughed at Miku's sour look before they linked arms.

Gumi was left behind for a split second, still fighting with the burger, before Lily grabbed Gumi by her free hand and pulled her away. Not letting go even when they had caught up with the couple, Lily figured that a bit of fooling around wasn't going to incur Sonika's wrath. And after everything was said and done, if Gumi and her sis ever broke up, she wouldn't hesitate to take the chance.

Taking a detour and passing through a particularly empty street, they slowed down considerably, Lily letting go of Gumi, turning around and walking backwards while talking to Luka. "Next time I want to try Luka Luka Night Fever."

"Don't remind me of that song. That's a real workout." Shuddering just by thinking about it, Luka pointed in front. "Right." Lily went into the wrong direction and hit a street sign with the back of her head, crouching down and rubbing her head. "Sorry. My right."

"Ouch.. Damn... how many times is that now... gotta be a dozen full at least..." Complaining to herself for a while, she felt something cold touch her cheek, flinched and hit her head again.

Gumi just stood there, apologetic, holding out a can of cold Pepsi. Grabbing the can and, instead of opening and drinking it, putting it on her head, she sighed in slight agony. "Thanks. But please warn me next time."

"You okay? That was a pretty loud thud." Miku took a look if she was bleeding or anything but it looked like she was safe.

"I wish I was just some anime character. I'd grow a big bruise for five minutes and it'd be done with."

"Too bad, it's not that easy. Come, get up, we'll get you an ice pack or something." Luka didn't have a whole lot of pity on Lily, simply because walking backwards was really just asking for something like that.

Stopping at the next best shop, that was conveniently serving deserts among other things, Gumi went to get an ice pack while Luka and Miku took care of orders and making sure Lily was okay. "Feel sick? Dizzy?" Miku was much more worried than Luka.

"I don't have a concussion. I know what **that** feels like, Miku. I'm just a resident of the world of mega headaches right now. Thanks, Gumi." Grabbing the ice pack the girl was holding out, Lily put it on the back of her head. "I need to stop doing this."

"Sounds like a plan. That did look pretty painful." Luka sat at the table and watched Lily with a bit of concern. "That's not the first time you ran into something, right?"

"Be easier to say when I didn't. It's not like I'm actually clumsy, I just don't pay enough attention or think stuff through."

"Your head's stuffed full with music so there is no room for anything else, huh?" The pink haired woman grinned wide, just joking around.

"Very funny coming from you." Lily rolled eyes and leaned back, putting the ice pack on her face for a few seconds. "I'm gonna feel like I got run over tomorrow."

"Welcome to what the rest of us feels like now." Luka grabbed the ice pack and lifted it up slightly. "You're gonna hurt your face."

"You two are almost on the same wavelength. I don't know if I should like that or not. Would be great though if I could make you two babysit each other." Miku, resting her head in her palm, her arm resting on the table, still didn't quite now Lily would affect her own daily life. After being Luka for a while, she had long given up on even hoping for normalcy in it. And sometimes that wasn't a bad thing.

"What were you and Gumi doing that you attracted such a crowd?" Miku was curious, not having seen what Luka had.

"Dance routine of Bo Peep Bo Peep. You know the song Miku. That Korean one." Luka let the ice pack drop back on Lily's face, who sat back up and put the pack back on the backside of her head.

"Oh.. the one that's been running in the radio a lot earlier this year? Don't lose your temper so-so-so quickly? That one?"

"Gumi told me she doesn't know the lyrics or routine so we just... improvised a little." Lily smiled. "Not that I knew the routine either, so it's a whole lot of improvisation."

"From what I remember wasn't so far off. Gumi was doing much better than you though. You were more than just a bit rough with your movements."

"Can't compete with the pro's, haha." Laughing and looking to Gumi, the girl quite flattered, Lily stretched and put down the ice pack. "I wish I could do this for a living too. But I doubt it'd ever be able to put up with all the stuff you guys go through."

"It's hard but nothing you can't handle. I think. Right, Miku?" Gumi could tell when someone had talent and Lily had definitely talent for dancing and singing.

"There is no way I can just bring in another newcomer this quickly after Miku though. The board would declare me insane." Luka saw where Gumi was going with it.

"What if she gets well known without a label and then gets hired on her own? They don't have to know we know each other until later." Gumi stopped talking and thought briefly that she was hanging out with Luka too much, thinking those things.

"Hear that Lily? I think fame and a band is calling your name." Luka grinned and looked to her partner. "Miku made the jump and she didn't have any experience dancing or doing actual music business work. I don't think it'll take much for you to get there if you get some publicity."

"Back to the whole band idea, are we? At this point anything I say is gonna go unheard anyway. Sign me up. Better I'm on board and keep you guys in check than have you go out of control." Miku figured it couldn't hurt. As long as they did their music like charity, it was at best a trivial breach of contract. If they did it incognito, even better.

"Gumi, do you play an instrument?" Luka felt pretty good about this idea. Doing whatever music she liked without being dependent on the agency was a great bait for her.

"I learned the basics for a few things but nothing I could do in a band." Gumi felt a little inadequate all of a sudden.

"Think you could pick up the drums?" Luka already counted Haku to their team so she skipped the keyboard.

"I can try." She had only minimal experience playing drums so she had to learn it from ground up.

"Gumi playing the drums, that's gonna be a riot." Miku couldn't really imagine that. But then again, she was ready to be surprised.

"You guys are great, getting along with this for me." Lily couldn't even imagine what others would give to be in her position.

"Don't worry about it." Luka wasn't going to turn down having Lily owe them.

"She's only doing this because she thinks it's going to be fun. You can bet your butt that she wouldn't help you this much if she didn't have an interest in it herself."

"Guilty as charged." Gumi started to laugh, knowing that Miku was spot on with her accusation.

"So, what are we going to do now? None of us have large enough apartments to use them to practice." Miku took charge of the situation, knowing that if left to their own devices, Lily and Luka would be a catastrophe.

"We three make more than enough to rent some practice space and buy new instruments. That's not really a problem." Luka waved her hand. "I'm more stumped on what to call our little project."

"Write a song, get everyone together and finish the first practice then I'll start thinking about a name." Miku wasn't as optimistic as to just jump ahead and name themselves already.

"Are you going to go and ask Haku? Because we still need someone on the keyboard."

"I keep telling you I have my doubts but I know you're not gonna leave me alone until I do it."

"Uhm..." Gumi tried to get their attention but failed spectacularly.

"Is this Haku a friend of yours, Miku?"

"Older cousin. She's **really** bad with other people and has a hang for depression. Don't tease her **if** she comes to take a look. And I really **mean** that."

"You're pretty protective of her." Lily had never met the woman but she was intrigued now.

"You should see my other cousin... she's like a bodyguard when it comes to Haku. Bodyguard and owner, sort of."

"That sounds pretty kinky." Joking about it, Miku's glare made clear that she could not make those jokes with the actual people present.

"Girls..." Gumi raised her voice a little.

"Come to think of it Miku, what's Meiko doing lately? You know, beside pushing Kaito around."

"I don't know. Don't tell me you want to pull her into this too. What is she even gonna do?"

"If memory serves you said we could need a second bassist, Lily?"

"Well, sure, but it's only for pretty advanced or fancy stuff. We can do without a second bassist but no drums or keyboard will be tough."

"Hey!" Gumi overreached herself and shouted, getting their immediate attention. "We should get going. It looks like it's going to-" Gumi was just about to say it when the downpour started. All four of them jumped up and tried to find shelter, like dozens of other people, and like those people they were all out of luck.

Lily was the first to improvise an umbrella by getting to work on the big sun umbrella that was still folded down. Working a good thirty seconds in pouring rain, she managed to pull it open, providing dry space. Miku, Luka and Gumi, all of them quite wet, found shelter together with Lily.

"Cold!" Lily didn't do well with the cold. "Warm me!" Grabbing Gumi and pulling her so close that Luka opened her mouth, met Miku's glare and closed her mouth, twice, Lily tried to find some warmth.

"There goes our relaxing afternoon." Miku lamented.

"We're closer to your place than mine. Let's just wait for it to let up and dash." Luka didn't really get along well with Neru but the prospect of staying wet for a good half a hour before they got back home was much worse than having to deal with Miku's cousin.

"I know what you're planning. If Haku is home, and she's gonna be, don't even talk to her."

"Christ, Miku, I get it already. I'm not deaf or stupid." Luka had enough of the eternal sermon of not teasing Haku.

"This isn't gonna let up any time soon." Lily peeked out from under the big umbrella and looked at the dark sky. "When the heck did all those clouds drift here?" Holding on to Gumi as if the girl was a stuffed animal, Lily did feel pretty comfortable. "You smell pretty nice, you know that?"

Blushing only because of what Luka had said to her before, Gumi didn't try to wrestle free from Lily's hold. She'd just make things awkward. And it wasn't like Lily was intending to sexually harass her with this.

"I hope Neru isn't home... If I show up with you **and** two other girls, she's gonna declare me insane. And have a seizure." Miku took a few deep breaths. "I hope you can put your money where your mouth is, or rather, your stamina." Looking at Luka, Miku wasn't sure the songstress could handle the distance.

"Lily, release Gumi from her prison, we're going to make a run for it before the shop starts shouting for messing with their stuff." Luka could already feel the glare of the staff members eying them for opening the sun blocker without permission.

Taking a step back when thunder roared, the sign of a real storm hitting the town, Luka felt a bit of fear. "We're not gonna get hit by lightning, right?"

"Maybe if all of us hit the jackpot in lotto at the same time. Because those are the odds." Miku looked around. The street had mostly cleared so they had free way. "Just follow me, I know a few shortcuts." With no further words, Miku started to run like she was being hunted by the devil, Luka and Lily right on her heels with Gumi in Lily's wind shadow.

"I frign hate the weather in Tokyo!" Lily shouted before they went around the first corner on their way to Miku's apartment.

~~~ Concert X End ~~~


	11. Quick and Steady

**Beta is Beta, i.e. spelling issues etc might be there.**

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XI**

_Quick and Steady_

"What do you mean you don't have your keys!" Luka was shouting in the rain, soaked to the bone, her long pink hair hanging slick in her face.

"It means I don't have my keys! Am I speaking french or something!?" Miku shouted back, equally wet and additionally as annoyed as she was soaked. Slamming her fist against the door three more times, for a grand total of fifteen, Miku gave up on hoping Neru was just in the bathroom.

"Lemme." Shoving Miku to the side, Lily pulled _something_ out from between her breasts and crouched in front of the door.

"You can pick locks?" Gumi was trying to cover herself with her arms, cold and somewhat embarrassed about the way her clothes stuck to her skin.

"They do it all the time on TV." Messing around the the lock, Lily was absolutely confident that a door lock could not be any harder to pick than a car lock.

Shrugging, turning around and awkwardly smiling, Miku was just about done. "Breaking and entering into my own apartment. That's it. I've officially made the jump to insanity."

Luka was right on that, hugging Miku, initiating a very awkward silence only disturbed by the massive onslaught of water from above and Lily cursing to herself. "Luka."

"_Don't. Say. Anything._" The diva was fully aware of how weird and somewhat disgusting it felt to have layers of wet and sticky hair between them. Separating would only get all that hair stuck to all sorts of skin.

"And she said: Shazaam open!" Proud of her work, Lily stood up and opened the door. A welcoming warmth was streaming out. "Can you two flirt on inside? It's wet 'n cold."

Pushing Luka away, Miku was the first to head inside and go straight for the bathroom. "Don't get the entire apartment wet! Wait until I at least throw you a towel!" Shouting from the bathroom, Miku grabbed every single towel she could get a hang of.

Returning to the door, where only Luka was patiently waiting, while Gumi was covering her eyes with her hands. There was also a suspicious trail of wet clothes on the ground. What unnerved Miku was that it didn't stop until she saw underwear on the ground. "Lily! Tell me you **not **naked in my apartment!"

"'fraid she is." Luka grabbed a dark blue fluffy towel from Miku's shoulder, starting to try her hair. "Gumi." Throwing a towel, bleak yellow in color, to the short haired girl, Luka wasn't sure she wanted to tell Miku the details of Lily rapidly throwing off her clothes in front of Gumi and herself. It was quite... something. If she wasn't heels over head in love with Miku, there would be a second trail following right up.

"I got a wool blanket so I'm not naked!" Lily shouted back, feeling barely any shame at all, already sitting at the table in the living room.

Just as Miku turned around to complain to Luka about Lily's behavior, she found her girlfriend stripping as well, Gumi now hiding her entire face behind her hands, a large towel hanging over her head. "Luka!"

"What? Want me to get a cold, getting you sick as well, inevitably, because I stick around in wet clothes?" She was secretly looking forward to sharing **just** a wool blanket with Miku. A new kind of kinky.

"I can **see** your perverted fantasies about sharing body warmth, Luka." Throwing another towel at her partner, Miku grumbled to herself, starting to rub her own hair dry. She was virtually assaulted by Luka, getting, in her opinion, entirely unneeded help doing that very same task. "Luka. I'm not five. I can dry my own hair."

"I'm over twenty, I can dry my girlfriend's hair. Now be a cute and obedient little diva and let me dry you all up." Miku endured Luka's wild rubbing to the best of her ability.

"You and your compliments. I'm not gonna share a blanket with you naked." Miku had been with Luka long enough to read her mind in situations like these.

"What do I have to do to get you under one?" Luka's tone was so serious and sincere that Miku faltered under the pressure of her honesty. When Luka asked like that, she didn't want to be stubborn. She wasn't really against the idea of sharing a blanket, just against letting Luka have her way that easily.

It was easy to come up with a few impossible conditions for something like that. "Get to work on time for a week straight. If you're late even once, you'll go a whole week without sex."

Luka paused, knowing that it was a big risk to take. But she went with the spur of the moment. "Starting Monday, I'll be at work in time for the entire week. And I'll have you know that's extortion."

"I don't want to hear that from you, you con artist! We're only scheduled to come in twice the entire week!"

A cute sneeze from right behind them put a stop to their little exchange. Pushing Luka to the side and taking Gumi's hand, Miku pulled her into her room, almost slamming the door shut right after. A locking sound made clear that she didn't trust Luka not to peek, no matter what punishment she threatened her with.

Stripping, but unlike Lily not leaving a trail of clothes, Luka made a quick detour to Neru's room and grabbed a massive wool blanket the writer supposedly used during winter. Covering herself in it and wearing it like a grand mantel, Luka put her wet clothes into the laundry basket. "Miku! When you decide to come out of Little Fort Knox, there should be some of my clothes in your closet!" She didn't need to specify what that info was for.

Arriving in the living room, Luka found Lily half-asleep on the table. "I can see your boobs, Lily." Sitting down and not paying any further attention to the position the blonde was in, Luka felt a lot better, now that she was out of the wet clothes. After waiting a good minute without Lily moving as much as a muscle, Luka decided to avoid the inevitable blushing storm that would strike if Gumi and Miku showed up now. "Cover up. You're not at home, Lily."

Groaning and sitting up, pulling the blanket closer, Lily was a little annoyed but knew Luka to be correct. "Sorry, bad habit. I always get real comfortable wherever I am."

"I could tell. Where did you get that, by the way?" Luka hadn't seen that blanket before. Where had it come from?

"Room in the back. It was on the ground so I grabbed it. Smells a bit like coffee for some reason." Pointing at one of the rooms that branched off, Luka could guess that the blanket more than likely belonged to Haku.

Sitting right across the table from Lily, a strategic move that Luka had made specifically so Gumi would be forced to sit next to Lily and Miku next to her, the scenario fell somewhat apart when she heard the apartment door open again, a lot of cursing and a bit of whimpering. "Lily, code red. Don't say anything and just let me talk."

"There better be a **very** good explanation for this, Megurine." Neru was pissed. Soaked and pissed. And Haku clinging to her arm, equally soaked, didn't help her mood any. Standing just at the entrance to the living room, Neru quickly put her priorities in order. "Haku, go change before you catch a cold." With a soft nod, the taller girl headed to her room, passing by the unknown blonde that was somewhat awkwardly smiling. "You're **not** having some kind of kinky affair with that girl there while Miku is god knows where, **right**?" As much as she took issue with Miku dating Luka, Neru would let Miku deal with her own business as long as Luka didn't screw her over.

"Miku is in her room, getting Gumi out of wet clothes. We get just as wet as you are. The _girl_ is a friend Miku and I have in common."

"I'm Lily. I'd get up and shake your hand but I'd rather not run into a minefield."

"Miku really attracts all the weirdos." Putting down a large bag she was carrying, obviously groceries going by the look of it, Neru walked past Luka, not without shaking her head enough to make water from her long ponytail sprinkle all over the songstress, and headed into her room to change. "Fucking rain."

"Miku's cousin. Writes for a living, takes care of the silver haired girl, who is **also** Miku's cousin." Rushing the introductions, Luka didn't like to deal with Neru all on her own. And especially not with Haku. The tall girl was a moving minefield where the mines were shuffled every day.

"Why aren't we joining the others?" Sitting on Miku's bed, in dry clothes and with a towel on her head, Gumi was a little confused why Miku refused to leave her room.

"I love Luka but I have obligations towards my cousins. If I'm always there to babysit their relationship with each other, they're never going to get along." Flipping open a book she had already read once before, Miku only needed something to keep her mind from imagining worst case scenarios. She had made the decision to stay holed up in a hurry when she heard Neru and Haku come home.

"You sound like you really want to make her a very permanent part of your life."

"I love her. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever meet someone I like that much again. That must sound really absurd, considering the way we met and got together, but it is what it is." Miku flipped a page but wasn't actually reading, merely keeping her eyes occupied. "

Grinning to herself, Gumi found it to be a tad romantic how Miku was planning out those things. A brief mental image of an older Luka and Miku, still performing together on stage came to mind. "You two make a great couple."

"That's why I want her to get along with what is left of my family." Flipping the page again, Miku thought it a good sign that there was no angry yelling from Neru yet. "I'm was worried, leaving Lily and Luka to deal with Neru, but it looks like they're doing okay. Unless they killed each other."

"If you and Luka would marry, who would wear the tux?" Gumi really wanted to shift the topic towards something else.

"Luka is the pervert, so she'd do it." Miku was completely nonchalant about calling her that. It was, if even slightly understated, the truth.

"I don't know about calling her a pervert." Chuckling, Gumi took the somewhat wet towel and hung it over the bed end. "I could just go to sleep... rain has that effect on me."

"Avoid drooling on my pillow and you can take a nap. I'll wait a bit longer before going out there and rescue Luka and Neru from each other."

Taking her up on the offer, Gumi laid down, the pillow having a slightly mysterious smell. Within seconds of laying down, the girl was fast asleep, leaving Miku with just her book. Waiting a few minutes, Miku decided that she would take a look at the, surely, nuclear battlefield that had living room must have become by now.

Unlocking her door and going out, she wasn't sure what to think of Luka and Lily cuddled up with each other under the same blanket. Seeing that first thing after leaving her room made her want to face heel and go straight back. Taking a few steps towards the living room, she could see why the situation was what it was. Haku was, covered in a blanket as well, hiding behind Neru, who was actually wearing clothes, and only cautiously peeking at the visitors. Given their heights, Neru made for very poor cover.

Walking straight past Luka and Lily, Miku sat down next to Neru, patting Haku's head first order. "Were you two out buying groceries?" She hadn't spotted the grocery bag that Neru had carried.

"Damn rain hit us with no warning. Yeah, we were out. Speaking of which, I need to put the stuff into the fridge." Getting up and giving Haku a very slightly scolding look when the tall girl tried to hold the blonde back by grabbing her hand, Neru went to get the bag and put away the groceries.

Having lost Neru, Haku was not taking cover behind Miku, who wasn't too happy with that. "They don't bite, Haku." Slowly pushing the silver haired girl to her side, Miku could only get her to stay by holding her hand under the table. "And you're not gonna bother to explaining to me how exactly you two ended up **naked** under a blanket together?"

"How do you know I'm naked?" Luka knew for a fact that Miku hadn't seen her strip and she doubted that her partner had checked the laundry bin.

Miku didn't even need to answer that with words. Giving Luka a knowing look, she could tell very easily what Luka was thinking and what she would do if confronted with some situations. "Let me make an educated guess. One of you took Haku's blanket without permission, Neru forced it off you and the only other warm place was sharing a blanket with whoever had the other one."

Luka and Lily both started clapping at the same time. "Ohhhh!" Miku made an annoyed face right away. "Detective Miku has solved the mystery right away!" The glare that followed, with an even more annoyed face, shut both of them up quickly.

"See, Haku? They're totally harmless if you don't let them push you around."

"Okay..." Shivering a little, Haku moved the blanket a little and hugged her cousin from behind, seeking a bit of body warmth. "You're warm, Miku..."

"Damn, I'm jealous." Luka whispered to Lily, but not quietly enough. Miku heard her alright.

"Which one?" Lily was playing along and whispered back, also not quietly enough.

"Both." Luka answered and felt a massive shiver go down her spine. "Come on Miku! It's essentially a compliment!"

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm dating an old man." Letting Haku snuggle up against her back, Miku felt absolutely nothing even remotely in the way of attraction when Haku's large breasts pushed against her. They were family after all. "Go get something to wear, Luka."

"I actually don't mind being naked with Lily under-" Luka paused very briefly, "Getting dressed now." Standing up, not ashamed in the least that she was stark naked and flashing everything to Haku, Lily and Miku, Luka walked past Neru, whose mouth was wide open at the sight, into Miku's room.

"You're gonna have to make do with whatever we find to fit you, Lily. Next time, ask before you make yourself at home, by the way. I live here and **I** don't mind, but alas, I don't live here **alone**." Miku felt like she was teaching children basic etiquette.

"Nobody was home, but I see ya point." Looking at Haku, Lily wasn't sure what she should say. She wasn't any good at dealing with shy people. All she ever got them to do was run away with their head low because she was too pushy. "I'm Lily. I sort of used to sort of sing in a band and sort of want to become a vocalist."

"That's... a lot of sort of..." Haku was looking at Lily over Miku's shoulder. She couldn't quite make sense of the girl.

"Very spur of the moment person, right here." Smiling wide, Lily wasn't ashamed of her lifestyle at all. She had spent a few nights on the streets because of it, but she never regretted living her life that way. "I kinda broke up with the band I was working with so right now I'm stayin' with Gumi. Your name is Haku, right? Like the Haku in Mahjong?"

"N-No... it's spelled differently."

"Your hair is incredibly pretty. Is the color dyed or natural?" Lily was, for her own standards, tip-toeing with her questions, trying not to step on a landmine. Luka had already warned her that Haku was incredibly shy.

"Natural... yours is really pretty too." She couldn't quite say why, but Haku found it much easier to talk to Lily than Luka.

"Ya think so? Thanks. Mine is dyed though. Natural color is still somewhat blond but bit dirty and I didn't like that. So I made it all sparkly. Costs me fortunes to keep it that way, too!" Rocking back and forth a little, Lily sneezed, unable to cover her mouth in time. "Woah, sorry."

"Why did you break up with your band?" Haku was starting to take a liking to the girl. Lily didn't ask any pushy questions about why she was shy or what she was doing for a living at all.

"Stupid stuff. I'll tell you over a beer or something another time." Lily had a plethora of stories to tell, most of them stuff a normal person wouldn't be proud of or want to share but she didn't mind at all. "Miku, mind turning on the TV?"

"I don't, but is there something specific you want to watch?" Grabbing the remote, Miku could tell that Haku was liking Lily. Maybe putting those two together would help Haku come out of her shell more often.

"Asahi. It's probably mostly over by now, but I kinda wanna see anyway."

"This? A Korean idol concert?"

"Yep, U-SAI, pronounced 'you say'." Moving slightly around the table to get a little closer to Haku and a better view of the TV, Lily looked a little bit dreamy when she stared at the screen. "You two haven't heard of them?"

"I don't want much TV..." Haku wasn't too fond of the musical and idol scene, not anymore.

"Don't pay a lot of attention to Korean stuff. Luka might know. Speaking of which, she is taking a long time. She better not be doing weird stuff to Gumi, like drawing on her face." Miku couldn't leave Haku alone with Lily, so she couldn't go and check.

"They both started on their own and didn't get far until they teamed up. Bright pink hair is called IA, the blonde SeeU. I kinda forgot their real names because they were really boring. I think IA was called Ai Sanoto or something like that. They sound really great together."

Watching the broadcast, Miku figured out what their appeal was very quickly. "Are they just acting the part or are they actually into each other? And what business does Asahi have broadcasting this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Miku. I like to think it's not fake. Part of the mystery, you know? They're pretty well known over here, too, and Asahi was the first to jump boats, I guess?"

"Korean lesbian porn?" Luka finally returned only to find the three girls somewhat glued to the TV. Wearing clothes she had, over various trips, left at Miku's place, she no longer needed to get under the blanket. She immensely regretted that she didn't get to share a blanket with Miku the same way she had done with Lily.

"Idols. But this pseudo make out stuff probably substitutes for porn well enough for their fans." Miku wasn't sure she should be saying those things. with Magnet and all being so hugely popular, it was kind of a glasshouse.

Neru returned to the table as well and Haku quickly crawled over to her, still covered in the blanket. She was wearing proper clothes beneath, but she got cold easily. And it was very comfortable, too. "Watching the Love Sight concert?"

"You know about them, Neru?" Miku was a little bored and relished in the chance to have a conversation instead.

"I'm amazed **you** don't, miss popular. They're a big thing over in Korea. A few of my online friends talk about them all the time. They even went to Seoul to see them perform live one time."

"They're in Korea, we're in Japan. I have my hands full with just the Japanese media and my job." Miku didn't care much for the competition, especially not some from oversea. "I'll get this lot out of here before dinner, Neru, so don't plan for them."

"We don't have enough at home anyway. We were only shopping for the two of us. Things still fine between you and her?"

"I'm right here, you know. I can hear you." Luka was a little annoyed with Neru's attitude.

"Thanks for stating the obvious."

"Give it a rest, Neru." Miku wasn't going to just sit there and do nothing while Neru was unreasonably unfriendly. "It's high time you get used to seeing Luka and me together."

"Getting used to it and liking her are two different things, Miku." Neru just couldn't handle types like that.

"You're an adult, act like one. Even Haku is doing a better job at it right now than you." Miku knew that **that** would hit Neru's pride. She reserved those things for when they were really necessary. "And yes, things are fine. We're still all over each other, since you wanted to know."

"I think that's more info than I asked for."

"N-Neru, stop fighting." Haku, clinging to her partner from behind, was only barely heard by Neru despite the close proximity.

"If you're that serious, I guess I'll have to accept it." Leering at Luka, Neru still didn't trust her. "I'm still keeping an eye open." Getting up and taking Haku with her, both of them vanished into Neru's room. "Knock when you go, Miku."

The mood turned a little bit sour and very quiet after the two left. Lily was fascinated by the TV and the two others were just silently looking at each other.

"The rain isn't letting up at all." Luka forcefully changed the topic. "Gumi is knocked out so hard, she didn't even wake up when I came in and changed."

"You better not have drawn on her face or something childish like that."

"I'd never do that." Looking out of the large window, Luka sighed. "What are we gonna do? That doesn't look like it'll end today. And there is no way we're gonna crash here tonight. If I had my car here, I'd get us home **somewhat** dry."

"Take an umbrella, get home, take your car and come get us."

"Let's just walk through the rain with umbrellas. We can take hot showers together when we get home." Lily didn't realize she was casually saying outrageous things. "We only need two umbrellas if two of us each share one. I don't mind sharing one with Gumi."

Looking at Luka, Miku noticed an insane glint in her eyes. That was a sign that the pink haired girl was full aboard with Lily's idea. And she couldn't find an excuse to reject it on the fly. "I feel like Noah, steering a ship full of perverts instead of animals." Looking at the TV, Miku wasn't eager to go back out into the rain. "We'll start gearing up when the broadcast ends."

"Who do you think is cuter, Luka?" Lily didn't turn her eyes away from the TV.

"Miku."

"Of the two idols?" Lily groaned. She could tell Luka had done that on purpose.

"I can't tell, neither of them are Miku." She had some personal preferences in regards to look, but she didn't care enough to actually take a more direct look.

"You got more of an one-track mind that the Shinkansen." Lily rolled eyes, the very same still glued to the screen.

"Considering that's an actual network of railroads and connections, that's not very hard." Luka liked to mess with people a bit. Lily had yet to understand just **how much** Luka loved Miku and the songstress fully abused that.

"You never look at another girl and think she is cute?" Lily had difficulties imagining that. Even married folks looked at others and had an opinion of their own.

"Only when going to Miku Miku Land."

"Oh come on, there's no such place." Lily hesitated for a moment. "There **isn't**, right?"

"Luka is screwing with you, Lily." Miku had to warn her.

"What about you, Lily? Which one is your type?" Luka turned the game around.

"Haku. Tall, big breasts, silver hair, white skin. Makes me drool." Noticing the glare from Miku, Lily quickly moved past the recycled joke. "I like IA over SeeU. I'm already a blonde, don't need my partner to be like that too." Pausing briefly, she felt the need to add something important. "I don't care if it's a guy or a girl, by the way. Guys have their own advantages to have around, just like girls. I just don't have any real preference there."

"I have the strangest friends." Miku was just joking around.

The broadcast was interrupted for commercials and a short cut from the music video **Magnet** ran. "You two must have had a **lot** of fun doing that video, being a real couple and everything."

"Don't tell others that. It's all a marketing stunt. I'd rather not have countless homophobic people writing me angry letters." Miku really wasn't looking forward to that, considering the press already knew where she lived.

"My lips are sealed." Lily was reminded be the commercial that she really was sitting at the same table as two people that made a living off singing. "I want to be like you two. Well, not quite, since I wanna have a band and stuff, but you get my drift."

"Speaking of which. Miku, you should talk to Haku and Neru about this. You know, having Haku play the keyboard for us." Luka knew for sure that it would be pretty difficult to convince that stubborn cousin of Miku's.

"And here I was hoping you'd forget about it." Miku didn't like pulling Haku into their mess, but she and Lily were the only ones that could do it without fearing any repercussions at all. She couldn't think of anything disastrous that could happen to Haku. "Fine, fine. I'll do it." Getting up and knocking on Neru's door, Miku waited for a moment before going in.

"It's going to be weird, playing in the same band as three super-stars." Lily didn't have any self-esteem issues, but she was still getting nervous.

"You won't be playing with super-stars. We'll change our hairstyles and wear visors for public stuff. Nobody is gonna know. That does mean vocals are all up to you because our voices will be a dead giveaway, especially for Gumi and me." Luka had thought it all through. "It's pretty common to have stage names, so we can just pick whatever. Nobody has to know who we really are. Then, by chance, someone lets your real name slip and that's how you get your fame."

"Luka Megurine – Criminal mastermind and rule breaker." Lily almost burst out in laughing when the songstress started making generic villain faces.

"We should get you dressed before Miku comes out of that room. Get up, you can just watch a recording of your Korean lesbians on Youtube or something." Luka didn't want to unnecessarily annoy Miku when she could help it. Teasing her was another thing entirely, though.

Finding Gumi still sound asleep in Miku's bed, Luka had a hard time resisting doing something to her while she was so vulnerable. "Would you say Gumi is your type?"

"Going by just looks, not so much I suppose." Lily simply took what Luka handed her, most of it a bit too loose in the chest area, and tried it on. "Personality on the other hand, she kinda is. Not too pushy but not too meek, up to do spur of the moment stuff, friendly but able to speak up when she has to. At least that's the impression I get. Anything wrong about that?"

"No, that's pretty much Gumi in a nutshell. And all done. You look like someone without any fashion taste whatsoever but I didn't have much to work with." Luka sighed. **She** wouldn't set foot in front of her apartment, dressed like that. "I wonder how Miku is doing."

She wasn't doing badly at all, to her own surprise.

"I-I'll do it." Haku was surprisingly eager to try, much to Neru's distress. "Lily seems nice... and you always say I shouldn't be home... so much, Neru."

"How did Luka talk you into this, Miku?" The blonde didn't want Haku get hurt again, and with Luka around, that seemed pretty likely. She didn't trust the pink haired girl at all.

"Ask me something I'm not wondering myself. To be honest, I don't think it's that bad an idea. Luka seems very chaotic but she actually thinks these things through very well. **If** we do it, I have no doubt we'll do well."

"Why Haku? Three of you work show business, surely you know someone else who can play the keyboard."

"I know you're protective of her, but you're being overly so right now. Personally, I didn't expect Haku to even want to try, but I'm happy she wants to get a grip on her life again. It's bad to live like this."

Neru wanted to debunk that but she couldn't. Keeping Haku like this meant she always had the silver haired girl by her side but it would also mean she remained insecure, depressed and sad. She loved Haku too much to keep things like that. "Fine then."

"T-Thank you, Neru..." Haku's decision to participate was based on how friendly Lily had been to her. She didn't feel intimidated by her at all and since Miku was with her, too, she hoped she could learn to handle Luka.

"We still have to look for a place to practice, instruments and other stuff so we won't be starting for maybe another week or so. I'll come by to get you when we go and buy instruments, Haku."

"Keep a leash on Luka." Neru glared at Miku, making clear that she would lynch the songstress if something happened to Haku.

"She knows better than to mess with Haku after how many times I warned her not to." Opening the door, Miku caught a glimpse of Luka and Lily competing on who could make the silliest face. "Even if she never looks the part."

Closing the door behind her, Miku slapped the back of Luka's head. "Changed profession to clown now?"

"Party pooper. You never had the urge to do something really stupid or silly?" Complaining about the slap, Luka sat back, returning to watching the final song of the Korean idols on TV.

"No. And now I have two of your kind in my circle of friends. Wonderful, soon we can open our very own circus."

"She's just saying that, she's done all kinds of stupid stuff with me already." Pseudo whispering to Lily, Luka forced Miku to blush. "One time I caught her wildly playing air guitar in the bathroom just before a shower."

"Luka!" Miku was so embarrassed that she tried to reach over the table and pull her lover's ear, but she came up short.

"Uhm..."

"Another time, we were in the park, we spied on two friends of us. Miku was totally excited about it, but she would never admit it." Luka looked slightly confused when Lily ignored the story and turned around.

Even Miku hadn't noticed that Haku had come out of Neru's room, looking quite nervous. Lily however had heard her. "What?"

"T-thank you for letting me... play with you. I'll try... my best." She wanted to thank Lily personally. It was a great chance to get out of her depression.

"What are you talking about? **I** should be thanking **you**. Having someone as beautiful as you play the keyboard is really going to be a great help."

Luka grinned to herself. Lily was a natural playboy. Haku turned scarlet red the instant Lily finished talking, and tried to hide her face by looking down. "B-Beauti... ful? Me? I-I don't..." Too nervous to properly speak, Haku wanted to back away but Lily's grand smile stopped her.

"Don't be silly, you'd be anyone's pride, no matter where they'd take ya." Lily exaggerated just a little, trying to fuel Haku's self-esteem a little. She also filled her face with a bright red.

"Stop flirting with my cousin." Hitting the back of Lily's head with a rolled up newspaper, Miku rolled eyes. That wasn't what she had expected at all. She couldn't tell just how much of what Lily had said was meant to be serious.

"I wasn't flirting!" Defending herself, Lily had heard very similar lines many times in the past. As if to color her a liar, with a majestic booming sound, the lights went off. All electricity was down. "This does **not** mean I got divine punishment for lying at all!"

About a second later, a scream that surpassed even thunder came from Neru's room. "**I didn't save yet!"**

"I can't see anything." Luka wasn't moving. Getting up, fumbling and stumbling around wouldn't help.

Lily was not sure what she was supposed to say or **do**. Just as the lights went off and Neru yelled, Haku had taken cover by wrapping her arms around the next best person; Lily. Petting Haku's head, the blonde tried to get the taller girl to stay calm.

"I'll go find a candle or flashlight or something. If the lights don't come back on right away, they won't for some time. Just what we needed. Stay put you three." Getting up and carefully making her way to the closet, Miku started to rummage through it in search of a light source.

"Walking through a thunderstorm is not exactly what I had in mind earlier so let's just forget about the whole thing." Lily was slightly uncomfortable with Haku clinging to her but she didn't lose a word about it.

"We have to get home **somehow** though." Luka didn't even want to imagine what it would be like if someone said _staying over_ in a situation like this.

Miku finally found a flashlight and used that to find some candles. Putting them on the table, all four of them were wondering why Neru hadn't shown up, complaining and enraged about lost time. "Maybe you should go and take a look how Neru is doing, Miku." Luka only reluctantly said so. She preferred to not have Neru around whenever possible.

Lighting a few candles and putting them on the table, they could see at least somewhat in the dark. Haku took the chance to let go of Lily and sit next to her, incredibly embarrassed over what happened. But nobody said anything about it. "What do we do now? Call a taxi? Anyone got their cellphone on them?"

"I'll try. Best option we have right now." Looking for her cell in her pockets, Luka realized she had left it near the entrance. "I'll go and get it. Let's hope the taxi company actually has power."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Miku? Speak louder, I can't understand you!" Meiko was almost yelling into her cellphone. She had been out with Kaito, buying supplies that weren't delivered on a regular basis when the thunderstorm hit. Taking a detour through the park had been a lifesaver as the trees provided decent protection from the rain.

"No, we're not inside! Can't you hear the rain come down two meters in front of me?! Where? Sorry, didn't get that, where?!" Meiko was getting more annoyed with every word until there was suddenly something warm covering her entire head. Kaito had taken off his jacket and was using it to shield Meiko from the vocal onslaught of the rain. "Thanks. Miku? Okay, fine, I can hear you know. What? You, Luka, your cousin and a friend are stuck at your place? **The power went out?**" Meiko yelled so loudly that Miku had to hold the cellphone away from her head on the other end.

"Sorry about that. How far does it go? Oh shit, that's bad." Covering part of the phone with her hand, Meiko turned to Kaito and pulled up the part of the jacket that covered her face. "Most of the town is without power. Total blackout. Lightning must have hit something important."

"We're in luck that the weekly delivery was planned for tomorrow. We're very low on supplies so even if it all spoils it won't be a big loss." Kaito still wasn't pleased. Hiring Meiko had proven to be a great business decision. A lot of people came every day just for her.

"What? Taxis? With the power out, the streets will be one big chaotic traffic jam. No way to get anywhere like that. Buckle up, get an umbrella and run like hell. We'd do the same but we don't even have an umbrella."

Listening to Miku on the other side of the line, Meiko shivered briefly. It was getting really cold now. "You should probably avoid waiting it out. Looking at the sky, its gonna get a lot worse before it gets better. This better not be an unannounced hurricane or something."

Nodding a few times and letting out a big sigh, Meiko was preparing herself to get really, really wet and cold. "Okay, see you. Tell Luka I said Hi. Okay, bye." Ending the call and closing her phone, she took off the jacket and put it around her shoulders. "How far do you think it is to your shop?"

"I can run the distance in about six or seven minutes if I don't carry anything." Looking at the two heavy bags they had brought, he was ready to abandon them. Losing about six thousand yen of merchandise paled in comparison to getting struck by lightning or getting into an accident.

"At least you're wearing shoes you can run in. I've got heels. I can walk really fast and maybe run a little but full out sprinting? Impossible." Looking at her feet, Meiko was seriously contemplating going barefoot, but that had it's own risks.

"You won't have to run." Kaito had barely finished his line when he grabbed Meiko and pulled her up into a classic princess carry. "I can't carry bags and run because they swing back and forth, but I sure can carry a girl."

"What about the merchandise?"

"You not getting hurt is more important than a bit of money."

"Have you been training on how to impress a lady?"

"Doing my best." Kaito was quiet for a moment. "You're a little heavier than I expected."

"Too bad, you were doing so well." Flicking his forehead, Meiko still laid her arms around his neck. "Go forth then." Taking the jacket off her shoulders and pulling it over Kaito's head, she didn't want to be selfish.

Starting to run as fast as he could, Kaito and Meiko were soaked within seconds. It wasn't a downpour anymore, it was like walking beneath a waterfall. Thankfully, he was physically fit.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Bored out of her mind, Rin was sitting in the lounge of the coffee shop, waiting for Teto, Ruko and Ritsu to finish cleaning up the mess that had broken out as soon as the power went out. There was not a single customer left by now, most of them having fled long before the blackout and the last four that were hoping to ride it out over hot coffee had left with the blackout.

Len had called over fifteen minutes ago, asking where she was. Giving a brief answer and hanging up, Rin had expected all sorts of kinky things from the blackout. But Teto was surprisingly reliable when it really came down to doing her job. They had put a lot of candles everywhere, so it wasn't complete darkness in the shop.

Resting her fake cleavage on the table, her shoulders hurt quite a bit from the extra weight. Her frame was much too small for the size she was using and her physical fitness was leaving things to be desired as well, stamina in bed aside.

"You going to stay?" Ruko had shown up, wiping her hands clean with a towel.

"Going outside in **that**? No way. Yeah, I'll stay." Rin leaned back, hoping to spend the remainder of the day experimenting with Teto.

"Teto! She's your responsibility then!" Shouting to the back, the redhead popped out of storage and saluted briefly. "I'm closing the shop now! If you need me for something, I'm in my room!" Both Teto and Ritsu heard and understood here.

The former was coming out of storage and heading towards Rin while the latter was following Ruko upstairs. "One hell of a dilemma. Power goes out and apparently it's for most of the town."

"Teto, do you think it looks fake?" Rin was having doubts about all the stares she was getting. **She** knew they were fake, and it really was odd to see someone so short and young with breasts that big, so she figured that others might think they were fake. Which would defeat the whole purpose of having them in the first place.

"Right now, yes. Because you're overly self-conscious of them and it shows. You were fine earlier, when you were overflowing with confidence." Teto knew that that was only part of the whole deal, but Rin didn't need to know that.

"So it's all in my head, huh?" Groping her breasts, lifting them and letting them bounce, Rin felt a rush of excitement thorough her body. "My shoulders hurt but I can life with that." Peering to Teto, she reached for the redhead's hand.

Being forcefully pushed onto the cushioned seats, Rin could barely see the drills of Teto's hair dangle above her. Physically, she was no match for her. Both of Teto's hands buried themselves deep into Rin's breasts, pulling and squeezing them just like they were real. The friction on the backside of the fakes emulated some of the sensation but most of it was, again, in Rin's head.

"You are such a perverted girl." Teto froze after saying those words. "I know you're there Ritsu. What, so lonely you need to spy on me getting it on?"

A shadow, almost indistinguishable from the background darkness, slowly started moving. Ritsu knew she had to be very careful around Teto. She knew what her past was and making any crude comments about that Rin girl using fake breasts could, and likely would, backfire enormously. "Getting it on in a public place like this? Ruko is gonna kill you if you stain the seats."

"How is that your problem?" Teto rarely fought with Ritsu but only because she had leverage to keep her in check. "Or are you speaking from experience at getting chewed out?"

Using her elbows to support herself, Rin slightly raised her upper body, trying to figure out where Ritsu was. "What's your problem? Bored of my brother already? Going to annoy his sister now?"

"Not bored, he is just not... accessible right now." Ritsu didn't like the tone of that girl. "Unlike a certain more-fake-than-real per-pubescent girl, I actually have duties to attend to and can't hang out at his place all day."

"You of all people shouldn't talk about fake, Ritsu." Teto leered into the dark. It was a warning to shut up and retreat.

"What, her breasts are silicone or something?" Rin was hoping she hit a bulls-eye.

"These beauties are all natural." Ritsu was getting pissed now. She knew Teto was someone she shouldn't screw with but that Rin girl had the gall to step into the fight? She'd regret that.

"Get lost, Ritsu. Before you say stuff you will regret."

Clicking her tongue in anger, Ritsu left and for a few seconds, angry steps could be hears ascending the stairs.

"What's her deal anyway?" Rin was curious about it now.

"I'll tell you another time." Getting off Rin, really turned off by Ritsu's interruption, Teto stepped over Rin, ignoring Ruko's rule of not stepping on the seats, and sat down, her back resting against the window. Waiting for Rin to get up, she pulled her backwards, laying arms around her and forcing Rin's head to rest against her breasts.

She didn't want to expose Ritsu unless she really went too far in her impish games. Because people were still narrow minded and would surely harass and bully her for it. Because Ritsu used to be a guy. After meeting Ruko, Ritsu went on therapy and eventually even got surgery. But the fact remained that he was born biologically a guy. It was Teto's great trump card against any and all of Ritsu's schemes.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"We look utterly retarded." Miku's face closely resembled that of something very angry and displeased.

"Don't complain. At least we don't get wet." Luka wasn't happy either, especially not with the smell of plastic, but it was still better than being soaked within seconds.

Lily had figured out a way to stay dry and get home, but it required some sacrifice. Namely, looking absolutely ridiculous while walking and secondly, they had to endure an immense plastic smell and had to move rather slowly.

The solution had been somewhat simple in nature. Translucent garbage bags. They were very big and if they weren't taped to the body, air would circulate from below. Wearing one like a raincoat protected against even the most furious storm. Their feet got very wet very quickly, but that was a small price to pay.

"Thank god it's almost pitch black outside. If someone sees me like this, I **will** actually die of embarrassment." Miku was still carrying an umbrella for the minute chance that a car would drive by. With the streets flooded, she needed something to defend against a possible wave attack.

"My friends and I used to do this a lot back home when we were smashed and couldn't walk straight anymore. Was really bad when you had to puke though. The smell was out of this world!" Starting to laugh very loudly, Lily proved to be every bit the chaotic, wild, somewhat irresponsible but very likable and funny girl they had taken her for. "Gumi, doin' okay back there?" While Lily was walking up front, not caring even a little bit over what she looked like with a garbage bag over her whole body and a terribly mismatched outfit, serving as a somewhat of a scout that would tell the others to hide their faces if someone came by, Gumi was at the end of their group of four. Haku had obviously stayed behind with Neru, who was foaming at the mouth having lost valuable writing time and losing more time with every minute.

"I'm fine. I hate the plastic smell, though." She really couldn't stand it at all.

"You know, I was really surprised to see Haku actually come out of her shell. She might be serious competition for Gumi." Luka was joking around while the rain continued to whip against the garbage bag.

"Haku and relationships sounds even worse than plutonium and uncontrolled nuclear fusion." Miku couldn't imagine that at all. Maybe after she had returned to more of a normal person. "It stinks. It stinks a lot. I'm seriously contemplating if this isn't actually **worse** than getting wet."

"You'll be freezing after a minute, all your clothes will stick to you, you might catch a cold and so on. It's not exactly an elegant solution but better than the alternatives. If we had a dozen or so umbrellas, we could have taped them together to create a dome where all of us can walk below!"

"In what universe would that actually work? I think you've been reading too much manga, Luka." Miku was more than just a little skeptical of that idea.

"You have no sense of adventure, Miku."

"It's more like I have some common sense and you don't, Luka."

"You two have the funniest conversations." With a light chuckle, Gumi caught up to Miku, walking right next to her. "It's a lot of fun to hang out with you."

"Thank you, thank you, we'll be here all week!" Luka had turned around and kept walking backwards while simultaneously bowing and smiling wide. "Now, please pay attention to our next attraction!"

"I feel like I'm in a circus alright when I'm with you." Miku rolled eyes.

"You love the circus, then?" Luka was still walking backwards and grinning.

"Yes, yes, I do. I love you for all your quirks and kinks. Even if some of them can get really annoying when you push it too far." Looking around, Miku really hoped they wouldn't get lost.

"Everyone hide!" Lily shouted but she herself kept walking nonchalantly. A group of five teenagers ran by, cursing and soaking wet, not caring much about the walking garbage bags. Luka, Miku and Gumi stood facing the next best wall and away from the five. As they had passed, Miku started cursing again. "Next time I'm staying home."

"And miss the great feel better sex under the hot shower?"

"One day I'll figure out when you're serious about these suggestions and when not, Luka." Miku slapped her partners shoulder and speed up, getting ahead of the other two, with Lily waiting at the next corner.

"Were you serious?" Gumi blushed thinking about that, wondering what it was like to do it in the shower.

"Hm..." The pink haired girl put a finger to her chin, pretending to be thinking deeply about it. "Half, I guess. If you're curious, I'm sure Lily won't mind sharing a shower session with you." Saying that under the pretext of teasing Gumi, Luka was secretly stimulating her imagination. If she were to think about it, she should imagine Lily and not her sister.

"I-I'm fine." Gumi blushed even more heavily, Luka's scheme bearing full fruit. She had trouble getting the image of Lily and herself in the shower, naked, out of her head.

"Corrupting the innocent again?" Miku had popped out of a small back alley and gave Luka a questionable look.

"Gumi's been with us too long to be innocent. I can pretty much guess what she's thinking about." Getting a bit closer to Gumi and talking to her in a low voice, Gumi immediately shook her head violently and sped up, trying to catch up with Lily. "She's so unbelievably cute when you catch her thinking naughty stuff." Luka grinned with bliss on her face.

"You're horrible, Luka. And I think that's enough pushing on the issue for today." Miku's tone changed slightly and that was the sign for Luka to stop joking around.

"What do you think of Lily and Gumi so far?" Luka watched the green haired girl catch up with Lily, who was inexplicably having fun out here.

"They're a bit like you and me. But the positions are reversed. If Lily makes a move on her first, I think it will be hard for Gumi to actually handle her. If Gumi is left to her own devices with some pushing from us, well mostly you, I think she'll eventually come to like her." Miku had paid a lot of attention to the way those two looked at each other and interacted. They made a cute couple but she was slightly worried that Lily had been so taken with Haku.

"I didn't expect Haku to be like that with Lily either. Even worse, Lily pretty much digs her looks." Luka didn't need to have mind reading powers to tell what Miku was thinking. It showed pretty easily on her face.

"Haku can't handle a relationship. And Lily isn't stupid, she would ask me about her before she does anything." Miku made an awkward pause. "I hope." Another awkward pause. "And stop reading my thoughts, it's slightly creepy."

"Oh come on, it's merely a sign of how perfectly in sync we are." Trying to grab Miku and hug her, the green haired girl quickly evaded with a side step.

"You'll be in sync with the rain and the ground if you keep fooling around like that."

"Stop flirting and walk, you two!" Lily was getting bored of waiting at the next corner. "It's still getting worse out here!" Lily hoped they would get home in one piece.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Laying on the couch in Kaito's living room, both Kaito and Meiko were sick of the rain. Due to the power outage, they couldn't even take a hot shower, something they only realized when getting home. Water was limited during a blackout and hot water was pretty much impossible to come by due to the lack of heating.

Kaito at the first to get up and rummage through various parts of his apartment, a flashlight, at first held by himself, then held by Meiko, their only source of light as Kaito wasn't the type to keep a supply of candles around. "Take these. I'll take the one from my bed. I can change so it won't matter if they don't fully cover me." The only clothes Meiko could change into were some of Kaito's and they weren't exactly a great fit.

Handing the brunette some of his clean clothes, Meiko vanished into the bathroom, changing. "Don't worry, I will not do anything to your underwear. Just throw them into the laundry bin." He still had a lot of work to do regarding the issue of always saying what he was thinking.

Showing up a few minutes later, Meiko found Kaito changed and ready to leave. "Where are you going?"

"I need to move a few things in the shop so we don't wake up to a catastrophe tomorrow. You can sleep wherever you want, my bed or the couch. I'll take whatever is left." He cared about his business as it was his lifeline.

"Can I look through your kitchen? We don't have power but I see if I can't find us something to eat. Even if its just sandwiches." She was thankful to Kaito for getting her somewhere dry quickly and even lending her clothes.

"Sure. It'll take a while before I'm finished so you don't need to hurry." Leaving his apartment and taking the stairs down, he thought himself lucky that the shop had been temporarily closed when the storm hit. It would've been chaos if he had customers at the time.

"I hope this ends soon. Nobody will want ice cream in weather like this."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Rin was completely passed out in Teto's bed. Not from exhaustion but from pure boredom. With Ritsu poking her nose into their business, Teto couldn't get in the mood anymore and started reading a novel. Half a dozen candles were spread around her room, providing just barely enough light to read.

Now that Rin was asleep and a good thirty minutes had passed without any interruptions, Teto was starting to feel like it again. But she held off on giving in to it, because she liked to observe Rin. Laying flat on her back, the short haired blonde's chest was raising and falling with every breath. It was oddly fascinating.

Thinking about it, she hadn't planned for how long she would keep up with Rin's delusions. It was pretty fun right now, but would it still be interesting a month down the line? She liked her and if possible would sever the relationship without also invalidating their friendship, but it was a little troubling. She wasn't usually the type to jump into things without thinking them through.

Putting the book aside and cautiously crawling on her bed, Teto put just her index finger on Rin's lips, curious to see what would happen. To her surprise, nothing happened at all. Rin didn't react to the stimulus in any way.

Trying something differently, she groped Rin's fake breasts, expecting at least some kind of reaction from that. And her expectations were far exceeded. After just seconds, Rin's breathing changed and a moan escaped her. Taking her hands off, Teto was more confused than anything else now.

She hadn't heard of someone being so sensitive before. Teto liked to play with her prey a lot and she wondered what else she could do. One idea that came to mind right away would be quite difficult to execute. Considering how much Ritsu and Rin disliked each other, making them sleep with each other, and watch, would be immensely entertaining. But it would be less funny if they actually knew who they were doing it with.

Getting off her bed and opening her closet, barely able to see anything, Teto looked through her boxes of toys. She found handcuffs right away but none of the other things she wanted. Given them the pretext of wanting to try out some bondage stuff, she could set both of them up so that they would think they were sleeping with her and not each other. Was just blindfolding them enough?

Spending a moment in deep thought, it never even occurred to her that what she was doing was something most people would classify as outright evil. To her, it was just another game. Her thoughts were actually about whether those two would be able to make out their partner by just voice alone.

Finding what she was looking for, Teto's mind was filled with bad intentions. Now she only had to set things up. With the rain hammering against the windows and the blackout, it was the perfect chance. Ritsu never turned her down when she wanted to sleep with her, despite mostly disliking her personally. She would ever so enjoy this.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"What do you mean _you don't have your keys_, Luka?"

"You know how I stripped and put all my wet clothes into your laundry bin? Guess I forgot to take my keys out! Haha, hahaha!" Laughing like a maniac, Luka rested her head against the locked door. "Fuck."

"I would say we can crash at Gumi's place but they just **barely** got enough space for themselves to sleep." Miku wasn't looking forward to going all the way back to her place to get Luka's keys. If only she had taken her own. It defeated the whole purpose of having a key to her lovers apartment if she forgot it at that very same place.

"Wait here, I'll sort this out." Walking past Miku, Luka expression was completely serious, a sign that she wasn't going to fool around.

Miku didn't bother to ask where she was going. She certainly wouldn't get a satisfactory answer anyway so it was best to just wait. Sitting down in front of the door, but not so before taking off the garbage bag, she started to wait. Every second seemed to stretch and stretch nearly indefinitely. Pulling out her cellphone, it was almost seven o clock. She was hungry, somewhat cold and very, very annoyed. Luka didn't tend to be scatterbrained like that so she didn't blame her for forgetting her eyes. It could happen.

Continuing to wait, Miku started to hum a tone, the melody from Magnet. She wondered when the next big job would come in. Just as she was thinking about that, her thoughts strayed to the whole band business Luka had brought about from nothing. Even if Luka had her faults, Miku could only respect her ability to just make things work. What started with a silly idea was not even forty-eight hours later something big.

"Excuse me?" Miku first thought she didn't hear right. Looking up, she hadn't even noticed that someone had come up the stairs. Did she sneak up? And what was she doing out there anyway?

Miku was looking at a girl with bright purple hair, holding a worn umbrella and wearing exactly what Miku thought homeless people would wear. "Could I ask you for something to eat or a dry towel? Please?" The plea was reinforced by a sudden stomach growl. "I'm Yukari. I sometimes live around here."

~~~ End of Concert XI ~~~


	12. Lost and Storms

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XII**

_Lost and Storms_

"As you can see, I'm locked out of my place." Miku didn't know what else to say, as she had never been asked for something by a homeless person. The girl **had** to be homeless, judging by the worn out clothes, her dirty hair and face. But she had a bright look on her face, something she couldn't quite connect to a person living on the street.

"That's too bad. Are you waiting for someone to open the door?" The girl's voice was incredibly sweet and calming, a stark contrast to the torrential rain that was gushing down.

Thinking about the rain, Miku noticed that the girl wasn't wet at all. "How did you stay dry?"

"I was here when it started raining. There is an empty apartment on the first floor that someone broke into a while ago and they have never fixed the door. I live there, from time to time." Producing a small plastic bag from the insides of her clothes, Yukari reached in and took out a half-eaten pretzel. "I would offer you a piece, but this is the last thing I have." Sitting down, a few meters away from Miku, and eating, the girl occasionally looked at the green haired teen.

"Why do you live on the street? You don't look-"

"Like other homeless people? It's my decision. I was sick of my life at home and all my parents care about is my sister, so I took off. It's not as bad as you think, you know. Most of the time I find somewhere warm and secure to sleep. Food is sometimes a problem."

"I didn't know there were actually people that lived on the street out of their own accord." Miku was sometimes surprised by the thing she had no clue about.

"There are many nice people I was only able to meet by living on the street. We all look after each other. When one of us is sick, the others take care of you. It's the opposite of what people are like in schools and at work, where you have to produce results, work long hours and still feel unhappy."

"Sounds like an entire world I know nothing about." Miku was amazed by how composed and well spoken the girl was. She was also extremely relaxed. "My partner should show up soon and get the door open. Or at least I hope so. If you wait, I'll see if there is anything in the fridge I can give you." Getting up and looking over the hand rail, Miku tried to find Luka in the dark mess, with no success. "It looks like she's still..." Looking behind herself, the girl was gone, the only traces of her ever being there some pretzel crumbs on the floor. "I guess homeless people are a bit... unique."

Checking the stairs, Miku couldn't spot Yukari. Not wanting to leave and possibly miss Luka, Miku returned to the front of her door, waiting patiently. A good five minutes later, Luka showed up again, Lily following her. "What exactly took so long?"

"I got a lil' lost!" Lily laughed it off easily. "It's so dark, I can't see a thing! So I took the wrong turn!" The blonde had already picked the lock to Miku's apartment, so it shouldn't be too difficult to pick Luka's either.

"It would really help if I could see anything." Lily knelt in front of the lock, taking a sturdy needle from somewhere behind her right air. "Breaking and entering kit for beginners, always carry it with you. You wouldn't believe how often keys get lost and stuff."

Taking her cellphone out, Miku used it to shine some light on the lock. "That better?"

"Lots." Getting to work while Luka sat back, Lily just wanted to get back to Gumi's place and crash for a while.

While Luka was waiting. she wondered what they would do for dinner. Cooking was impossible and eating out was equally impossible with all the rain and the blackout. "Miku, do we have any snacks left? Because if we don't, we'll have to see what we can put on bread and that'll be it."

"Knowing you, you would put snacks on bread, too. Or really anything, when you're hungry enough." Miku kept holding her cellphone while trying to look over her own shoulder. "Just before you showed up, a homeless girl talked to me. Did you see her come down the stairs?"

"I was busy chasing our resident blondie here. We didn't see anyone. And a homeless girl? Here? Miku, did you breathe in some weird fumes under that plastic bag?"

"Haha, very funny." Miku faked a laugh.

"Bonny and Clyde, we're in."

Jumping up and squeezing herself past Lily, Luka shouted "I'm Bonny!" before vanishing into her bedroom, jumping into bed and crawling under the blanket like an animal that had been unjustly woken from hibernation and wanted to go back to sleep.

"She's definitely Clyde. Thanks, Lily. Are you gonna find your way back alone?"

"Sure. I'll see you tomorrow. Gumi is probably already fast asleep because of the rain. She way sayin' it makes the best lullaby." Looking at the pitch black sky, Lily couldn't disagree more. "I'd rather sleep in a bar."

"You're quite the characters, though. I prefer this rain over the rowdy noises of a bar. Alright, see you tomorrow." Waving Lily goodbye, Miku went in and closed the door after her. The cold air from outside was still coming in from somewhere, which meant a window was open. Hopefully the room hadn't turned into a pool. Checking around, luckily, it was the kitchen window and it was only half open, not letting more than a few solitary drops in. "Luka?" No reply. With a sigh, Miku reworded. "Bonny?"

"What is it, Clyde?"

"Can you stop being childish and come to the kitchen? My cellphone isn't enough for me to see stuff."

"On my way, my darling!"

Looking through the cupboards, Miku had trouble remembering where things actually were. It was... a mess, as usual, due to Luka's inability to tidy up. "Drop the thirties thing already, you don't even know how they talked back then."

"You hold the light and I'll search." Getting on her knees, Luka quickly went through a few cupboards, producing nothing but two packs of potato chips, a bar of chocolate, a few lolipops and hotdog rolls. "That should make a great dinner."

"From now on, **I'm** buying groceries. On my own." Miku couldn't believe that those things were literally the only as-is edible things they had at home.

"Oh come on, it's not my fault we can't cook!"

"Hotdog rolls? I can't remember when we last had sausages in the fridge, Luka! Gimme that." Taking the bread rolls from her partner, Miku looked for the expiration date. "They're **eight months** past expiring! I'm amazed they haven't turned to dust yet!"

"You're not gonna eat them?"

"Of course not. And neither are you!" Taking a step to the side, Miku opened the trash bin and threw the long since expired bread in. "Let me look at the other stuff."

Thankfully, nothing else was expired, beside possibly the lolipops, which had no expiration date at all. "We're not going to eat just snacks for dinner, Lu- Hey!" Trying to snatch the, now, opened pack of potato chips from Luka, the songstress quickly evaded.

"We need to eat something, even if its potato chips." Calmly walking out of the room, Luka knew her apartment in and out, able to maneuver past all possible obstacles. "I'll meet you halfway and won't eat them in bed."

Miku followed suit, secretly carrying the bar of chocolate. She really **was** hungry and it bothered her that she couldn't get a decent meal. She wondered if Haku and Neru actually got to eat something decent, considering whatever they were out shopping was ever so slowly spoiling in the fridge right now. Finding Luka on the ground, sitting in front of their shared bed, Miku sat down next to her, resting her head against her partner's shoulders. "The power better come on before tomorrow... I'll be cranky all day if I don't get something normal for breakfast."

"Gumi and Lily probably aren't eating anything. Here." Holding a particularly large potato chip in front of Miku's mouth, Luka slowly fed her. "I'm as unhappy as you are but being grumpy isn't going to help."

"I know, I know. No shower, no decent food, this sucks."

"At least the most important thing is still here."

"Your bed?"

"Now you're just fishing for me to tell you that **you**'re the most important thing to me."

"That obvious?"

"Yes."

"I don't mind, by the way."

"About what?"

"Sex. You've been groping my butt for five minutes, Luka, and even without that I can tell when you're horny."

"Been holding it in since we were at your place. I don't care for her romantically but Lily is pretty hot."

"I should totally give you flack for saying that." Miku reached for the potato chip bag and had it handed to her by Luka. "Thanks."

"Don't tell me you never think that someone else is hot. I know you better than that. What about Gumi? You never thought she was almost too cute or something like that?"

"That's why I only should give you flack and I'm not doing it. Because you'd have just grounds to return the favor right there." Munching on potato chips, Miku returned the bag and started unwrapping the chocolate bar. "Chocolate and potato chips, dinner to die for. From a seizure."

"Who knows, maybe the extra calories will go to your chest. Ow!" Luka rubbed her knee after Miku hit it. Grabbing behind, pulling her around and groping her, Luka exacted revenge. "But I love your breasts just like they are, too." Kissing Miku's neck, Luka's hands slowly slid under the top of the green haired girl. "Say Miku... why do you care so much about me getting along with Neru and Haku?"

Putting a large piece of chocolate between her lips, Miku turned her head slightly, pointing with her finger to her face. Both of them sat in near total darkness in front of the bed, and yet they were still clearly able to tell what their other half was doing. Taking part of the chocolate from Miku's lips, Luka found out the unpleasant way that it was dark chocolate. "Tastes a bit like you."

"Bitter but when you get used to it, it's the best?" Turning around slowly and by that act forcing Luka to let her go, Miku moved onto Luka's lap, putting down the chocolate and chips. After a day so hectic, she was looking forward to spending some quality time with her lover.

Sliding her hands under Luka's top, the songstress twitching slightly as Miku's hands were a little colder than she expected, the green haired girl slowly pulled up her top. A cascade of pink hair fell the moment she pulled it off over her partner's head. She liked it when Luka's hair was a little roughed up. Bending forward and kissing her partner's neck, she left hot and ever so slightly wet impressions on Luka's skin as she moved downwards, not without drawing an excited moan from her lover now and then.

With Miku on her lap, Luka deeply enjoyed not being the dominant one for once. She often led Miku and while she enjoyed that too, a chance of pace was most welcome. Each kiss, each touch of her lips was like an electrifying sensation that she could feel thorough her entire body. Just as the younger girl reached her bellybutton, Luka's breathing intensified and she needed more than that. Miku was bend over far, having slightly moved off Luka's lap, strands of her hair that hung from her forehead tickling her love's stomach. She knew Luka's desires and as soon as felt her breathing change, Miku stopped and sat back up. Without a word or gesture, Luka stripped Miku of her shirt, throwing it to the side. Miku shivered briefly due to the air temperature in the apartment and resumed where she had left off. Getting even closer to Luka than before, her moves were conspicuously leading to sharing body warmth. She hadn't forgotten about Luka's desire to share just a blanket with her. Even though her bra, the soft sensation of Luka's breasts pushing against her own excited Miku, accelerating her breathing.

Looking into each others eyes in the dark, the two girls continued to just look for several seconds while Miku was slowly moving her chest up and down, back and forth. Only when Miku started to feel Luka's nipples poke against the thin fabric of her bra did she stop her teasing, closing her eyes and opening her lips slightly, letting her partner initiate the kiss.

Using her right arm, now wrapped around Miku's slim waist, to pull her closer, to intensify the silky and hot sensation of skin touching even further, Luka put her lips against Miku's, a slightly bitter and also salty taste welcoming her. Quickly parting and uniting again, regular kisses were just the prelude to what was to come. Miku, now almost as excited as Luka, ran her right hand over her thigh, knowing exactly where her love was sensitive and vulnerable. Caressing her, Miku achieved exactly what she wanted. With a fiery change of pace, Luka's tongue as welcomed by Miku's, the kiss getting wilder with every passing second, hot air being exchanged between their mouths. The younger girl had to break off first, forced to catch her breath. Using the break to quickly unhook Luka's bra, she threw the piece of cloth to where their shirts were. Bending back a little, which would have given Luka a great view of her almost naked body if there had been light, Miku undid her own bra, throwing it in the general direction of the other things.

Her quick breathing was making her chest heave, generating a slight jiggle from her moderately sized breasts. As if she could see through the dark, Luka's hands reached for them, the first touch of Miku's soft breasts almost like ecstasy for her. Squeezing them gently at first, she started to fondle and grope them with a little bit more force, until Miku could no longer hold back, letting out a constant but quiet stream of moans.

Bending forward and forcing Luka back into a passive position, the green haired girl took back control. Her face was right in front of her partner's copious chest. Luka was not quite so out of breath as Miku and still her breasts rose and fell with every breath of air. Using her right hand first, Luka let out an excited moan when her love started to fondle her left breast. But that was nothing compared to when she suddenly felt Miku's lips, then her tongue, on her right, leaving hot and wet trails of saliva as she circled around her nipple.

Pausing with just her tongue, to tease the pink haired girl a bit, Miku didn't stop with her right hand that was now squeezing and groping, her fingertips burying themselves gently into the softness of Luka's breasts. "You're so perverted.. your nipples are rock hard already..."

"I can't help it. I get incredibly turned on when a super beautiful girl touches me. It's-" Her response was interrupted when she threw her head back, a massive rush of excitement pulsing through her when Miku quickly kissed, then teased her right nipple with her tongue. She didn't bother to continue talking afterward. Her mouth open, her breathing racing, Luka didn't know how much more teasing she could take. Moving her right leg slightly up, she could feel that Miku was turned on quite a bit, too. Even though her panties, Miku was hot and wet enough for Luka to feel it.

Just as Luka found out, Miku moved away, slowly standing up. Taking off her skirt, she left her panties on. They were for Luka to take off. Getting down on her knees in front of Luka, Miku undid the buttons on Luka's pants, slowly pulling them off. A faint sweet scent was enriching the air around Luka's waist. Just as she took the pants off, Miku didn't return to the top of Luka's lap but instead moved up next to her, her left index finger tracing over her thighs until she reached her hips. Nibbling on Luka's left air, Miku teased her partner some more, letting her finger circle up above her love spot, going back to tracing lines over her thighs. Stopping, Miku whispered into her partner's ear. "Take me to bed."

She didn't need to ask twice. With a wild movement that Miku couldn't quite see in the dark, she was suddenly in a princess carry by Luka, both of them naked bare their panties. Neither of them could feel the chilly air in the room, with their bodies feeling hot through and through.

Trying to put Miku on the bed, Luka was forced down by her partner's sudden struggling. Landing on top of her love, the songstress had trouble keeping her bearings when Miku moved not just herself but also her partner. Before she knew what had happened, Luka found herself flat on her back on the bed, Miku sitting on her stomach.

Using her right arm to reach behind her, Miku slowly rubbed her hand over Luka's panties that were now starting to leak out her love juices. Her own liquids were slowly trickling on Luka's stomach. Her face was bright red and her head full of desire to sleep with Luka.

Gasping in surprise when she felt both her breasts being fondled, squeezed and then pulled gently, Miku started to moan loudly, the stimulation of Luka's hands being too much. Rubbing her hand over Luka's intimate place more rapidly, Miku slipped below the panty, her fingers immediately sticking with Luka's juices. Touching and poking Luka's clit, her partner responded with a love filled moan and intense squeezing of Miku's breasts. Unable to sit up straight after that, Miku bend forward slightly, her chest still in Luka's grasp.

After regaining a little breath, Miku backed away, tugging on Luka's panties, slowly pulling them off. Their smell was almost intoxicating for Miku. Luka raised her legs to make it easier for Miku to take them off. For just a moment, as a lightning bolt illuminated the town, they could see each others faces, ridden with lust and excitement. Leaving Luka's soaked panties at the bed end, Miku moved back on top of her partner, further up then before.

Putting her hands under Miku's panties, Luka could smell how excited she was even from her position. Pulling them down, Miku changed positions, bending back and putting her legs over Luka's arms, letting her take off the remainder of her underwear. Only seconds passed between the pink haired girl taking them off and Miku changing position yet again, turning around completely, her head just above Luka's hips.

Thunder masked Miku's loud moan when Luka's tongue started to play with her clit without warning. Returning the favor, she let her own tongue just graze over her partner's love spot, Luka's entire body trembling under the sensation.

Luka was less playful, plunging her tongue between Miku's lower lips as soon as she regained control of her body. The green haired girl instinctively lowered her hips a little bit, the wet and cool feeling of Luka's tongue driving her nearly crazy.

Continuing to please each other with just their tongues, Miku was the first to give in, knowing that if she would continue like this, she'd come first and alone. Raising her hips, feeling a sting of regret and a wave of longing for more, she returned to her first position, sitting on top of Luka. Backing away from her partner's face slowly, Luka pulled her right leg out below Miku's when she felt that she was in the right position.

Taking her partner's right hand, using her own right to support herself on the bed, Miku moved the last bit, pushing her love spot against Luka's. Irregular, rapid moaning filled the room even before either of them started moving. Miku was still taking the lead and finally started shaking her hips slightly. The first time their clits touched, Miku bend backwards, wanting to cover her own mouth to dampen her loud moaning, but she didn't have a hand free. Their fingers intervened, Luka gently pulled Miku towards her, making her bend forward instead of back. "I love you, Miku."

"I love you too, Luka." Even without those words, they knew perfectly well how much they meant to each other. Forgetting about stabilizing herself and trusting Luka to handle it for her, Miku used her now free right hand to play with Luka's breasts again. "I'm jealous."

"You're stupid." Past her limit, Luka couldn't stand just laying back anymore. Using Miku as an anchor to pull herself up, Luka quickly wrapped both of her arms around the love of her life. Miku did the same, laying both of her arms around Luka's shoulders, their upper bodies kissing the same way as their lower parts did. "You're perfect the way you are..."

"Smooth talker." Kissing Luka again, it was much more wild but no less passionate than before. Their tongues mangling together, Miku couldn't control herself anymore, relentlessly moving, shaking. The sweet smell from before had already become a sweet taste on her lips. A taste that was now mixing with her own, driving her to even greater heights of excitement. Breaking off, Miku was burning up. Sweat drops had spawned all over her body and she was leaking love juices, that mixed in with Luka's own, wildly. "I'm sorry, Luka... I about to come..." Her breathing was haphazard and wild, her mind barely able to function.

"Good..." Luka's state wasn't any different. Kissing Miku again, she moved against her partner, prompting Miku to moan erratically into the kiss. Suddenly breaking the kiss off, drops of saliva flying through the air, Miku got completely quiet, pressing herself against Luka, her entire body trembling violently, her breathing deep and powerful.

Luka followed a second later and her reaction was completely different. Throwing her head back and forth twice, a single, orgasmic, moan escaped her throat, her own body refusing any movement, simply holding Miku tight.

Two minutes that felt like no more than a few seconds passed before Miku raised her head again. "Screamer..." Kissing her partner quickly and briefly, Miku let her head rest against Luka's shoulder, trying to move as little as possible because her sensitivity was through the roof.

"Shut in." Luka responded, petting Miku's head, smelling her hair a little.

Spending a few minutes like that, Miku finally let go of her lover, separating from her. Her breathing was still accelerated. Laying down and pulling on Luka's hand, a signal that she should take the spot next to her, Miku wanted to go to sleep just like they were then.

Laying down and taking Miku into her arms, Luka gently nibbled on her earlobe a little. "No cuddling?"

"I didn't say that." Snuggling against her lover, Miku kissed a sensitive spot just above Luka's collarbones just once. Tracing lines over Luka's arm, she loved just cuddling with Luka as much as having sex with her.

"You're like a cat. They're also cuddle addicts." Enjoying the little teasing by her partner, Luka felt thoroughly satisfied. She **did** like cuddling, just like Miku, but she wasn't as obsessed with it.

"She says while playing with my hair." Closing her eyes, Miku smiled and let Luka have her way.

"Want to go to sleep? Hopefully the power will be back on tomorrow." Wrapping a long strand around her index finger, Luka liked playing with Miku's hair like that. It had a calming and even somewhat hypnotic effect to it.

Making an agreeing hum, Miku changed her position slightly to make it more comfortable for Luka. She didn't mind sleeping naked that much, and not at all right after sex. Maybe she would change her mind on that in winter.

It took only a few minutes before Miku had passed over to the dream lands, leaving only a barely awake Luka behind. Yawning once, she smelled Miku's hair one last time before following her.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

A loud thud woke Gumi in the middle of the night. For the third time. She wasn't exactly a very light sleeper, and with the rain acting as a sleeping agent, she was fast asleep pretty quickly. Lily however seemed to have a knack for hurting herself and also **hurling** herself out of bed.

The first time, she had gone to look if everything was alright. The second time, she had just gone back to sleep. And now, she was looking at a very exhausted blonde whose tank top was sliding off at one side. "Can I sleep here?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." She wasn't ready to actually **share a bed** with someone other than Sonika, much less regularly.

"Please?" Lily was a bit desperate. "I fall off the couch every time I turn and I can't keep still that long." She didn't think it would be that much of a problem.

"Won't you kick me out of bed or roll out of bed too, then?" Gumi tried to reason with her roommate. The first night and there were already problems.

"Hold on to me? I'm generally a lot calmer when someone does." Lily didn't see anything negative about it but she realized the implications a few seconds later. "I really just mean hold, nothing else."

"Sorry, but... I'm not really ready to let someone else sleep in my bed."

Sighing, Lily turned around and walked back out, knowing that it would be selfish and stupid to pressure Gumi. "I'll work something out. Go back to sleep."

"Sorry, Lily."

"'s fine!" Shouting from the room next door, Lily fell over a packet they had left in the middle of the room. Hitting the ground with another loud thud, she quickly reported back before Gumi could worry. "Still fine!"

Getting back on the couch, Lily had to find a way to stop throwing around so much. It was a terrible habit from back in the day when she used to take afternoon naps and the sun would heat up her room. She always ended up throwing the blanket off eventually. And now it was herself who got thrown off the couch.

Taking her pillow off the arm rest and hugging it, she laid back down. It was at least worth a try. Closing her eyes, the exhaustion quickly made her fall asleep again. In less than an hour, Lily was sitting on the couch, sleep deprived and annoyed with herself, still hugging the pillow after falling off the couch again.

Starting to drift off while sitting, she knew she had to figure out something before tomorrow night. Spending another night like this wasn't acceptable. Dozing off, Lily found herself on the floor again within minutes. "Screw it."

She grabbed the blanket, put the pillow on the ground in front of the couch and laid down there. At least there wasn't anything big she could roll against down there, but it sure was very uncomfortable to sleep on the hard ground. "Gonna get a sleeping bag. Or superglue."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Finishing work late, his cellphone was saying 23:28, Kaito finally returned to his room above his shop. Meiko had crashed on the couch, likely fallen asleep while waiting for him. Finding his way through the room by instinct, he carefully lifted up the grown woman he liked and carried her to his bedroom. He would take the couch. Stripping her would only lead to immense misunderstandings and trouble, so he didn't touch her clothes. Thankfully, she was only wearing minimal amounts of clothing to begin with.

Taking an extra pillow and blanket from the closet, he got ready to crash on the couch, but not before visiting the fridge and refreshing himself with a bottle of water. Going to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he barely managed to suppress a yawn.

The rain was still hammering against the windows and he wondered just how long that would keep up. It wasn't that unusual to have heavy rain for a while around this time of the year, but it always came with big losses. Then who in their right mind wanted to go out and eat ice cream when it was raining cats and dogs outside?

Getting to the couch, he crashed almost immediately. Having Meiko sleep in his bed wasn't a bad thing. Around the same time tomorrow, he would get to enjoy her scent on his pillow. That thought bringing a smile to his face, the blue haired man slipped away.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Your cellphone must be broken... did it get wet yesterday?" Luka was unwilling to even get up, still laying in bed, barely covered by the blanket. Miku was only now getting back to her side, having found her cellphone on the ground in front of the bed.

"It says 8:13, but it's really dark outside and still raining... I'll text a friend from school to see if she is up." Getting a quick message together, Luka turned sideways and repeatedly poked Miku's cheek. "Want to continue where we left off yesterday?"

"You need to avoid sounding so exhausted when trying to tease me, Luka. And sent." Putting her cellphone to the side, Miku turned to her partner, gave her a quick kiss to the forehead before she got out of bed again and tried to turn the lights on. "Power is still out."

"Come back to bed.. I hadn't finished charging with Mikuium." Reaching her arm out towards where Miku was, it wasn't quite **as** dark as the night before, Luka wanted to stay in bed until the power came back on.

"Stop destroying our periodic table, Luka." Picking the clothes from last night off the ground, Miku wanted to get dressed. Looking through a drawer, and really straining her eyes by doing so, Miku was trying to find a clean pair of panties. "Didn't we wash recently? Where is all of my stuff?"

"Other drawer. I separated our stuff because its easier to put laundry away like that." Lazily rolling around in bed, Luka didn't want to get up. "Its still raining and the power is still out... lets just hibernate."

"Hibernation also means no sex or making out."

"Screw that, then."

Miku was halfway dressed when her cellphone started to make buzzing sounds, vibrating on the table next to the bed. "It's morning alright... at there is no power at her place either. Makes me wonder what that lightning bolt hit."

Sitting on the bed and putting on some black stockings, Miku yawned briefly before turning to her lover. "We're not eating chips and chocolate for breakfast. Some places have a backup generator, so we're going out and find something to eat."

"Going **out**? In that weather? Miku..." Almost begging, Luka's tone made very clear she didn't want to leave her apartment.

"That mindset is exactly why we're going. Most people won't leave and just eat whatever they have at home. We don't have that luxury, so whatever the shops with backup generators have, we'll get." Throwing a set of fresh underwear at Luka, Miku took the dirty clothes from the day before and headed for the laundry bin in the bathroom. "Come and wash your face when you're up."

"How can you be so chipper when the weather is like this?"

"I don't know, maybe because I had incredible sex last night ago?"

Luka grumbled. If she put it like that, there was no way she could just deny it and stay in bed. Miku was learning how to push her buttons, alright. Getting into the bath, she found Miku already present, brushing her teeth. "How is the water?"

"Ice cold. Don't waste any, it's very possible it will run out during a blackout." Handing Luka a cup that had a toothbrush inside, Miku continued to look at the mirror, not seeing a thing. A flashlight she had found under Luka's underwear was providing some emergency light for hygiene only.

"You're using my toothbrush again." Saying so, Luka put some water in the cup, toothpaste on the brush, cleaned her mouth and started the same morning ritual as always.

"I think it doesn't really matter which brush belonged to whom at this point. It's not like underwear."

"Don't say that. I would totally wear your panties if they fit me."

"Excuse me for having smaller hips."

"I like your hips."

"So do I."

Brushing in silence for the next minute, Luka was the first to pick the conversation back up. "Did your breasts get bigger lately?"

"I haven't gained any weight, so I doubt it."

"Any of your bras feeling tight?"

"A bit. But I doubt that's enough to say they got bigger. Maybe a millimeter or so."

"That's another lovable millimeter for me to adore."

"You mean fondle."

"I was getting to that."

Finishing first, Miku gargled quickly, spit and cleaned the sink with the remainder of her cup. Putting it back on the small glass platform that was mounted to the wall just below the mirror, Miku yawned. It was still early and she didn't feel like doing anything. But she was used to overcoming the for sloth.

"Who do you think has the nicer butt? Gumi or Lily?" Luka and Miku had a single special rule for when the two of them were going through their morning or evening hygiene. Any questions are okay, even if they're of suspicious nature, like the one Luka just asked. And secondly, the questions and their answers were never talked about outside the bathroom.

"Gumi. She does similar routines as we do, and she's done it for a while."

"Breasts?"

"Really now, Luka?" Miku thought that her partner was abusing the rule a little too much.

"Definitely Lily."

"Agreed on both fronts. But I like your butt and breasts more than either of theirs." Finishing and gargling, Luka couldn't see Miku grinning behind her, sitting on a small stool next to the shower. "Haku was hugging Lily when the power went out. To be honest, I really wonder what **that** must have felt like."

"Don't you dare ask her." Miku got up and flicked Luka's left shoulder. "I admit Haku is pretty... well endowed-" Miku punched Luka's shoulder this time. The songstress made a chuckling noise when Miku had said _well endowed. _-"but she is still my cousin. Hands off, mouth off."

"I wanna see her run." A glare from Miku. "Or jump." A raised fist. "Maybe a hug." Luka skillfully dodged the punch and walked out of the bathroom. "I'm just teasing you."

"I know. Doesn't mean I don't get to punch you."

"Domestic violence! DV! My Miku is an abusive spouse! _Help, help!_" Saying the last two words in English, Luka had incredible fun teasing her partner. Returning to a serious topic before her girlfriend burst a fuse, she sighed. "Are we really going out?"

"Don't be such a child." Walking past Luka and looking for something specific, Miku found it after about a minute of seemingly randomly going through piles of things that were placed at various corners in the apartment. "You're such a slob. But at least I found us the big umbrella I left here a while ago."

"Unless it comes with a 360 degree wind shield, it's not going to help us much." Luka looked outside. The clouds were still pitch black and letting out more rain than any kind of cloud should have to spare. "It's dropping the entire ocean on us."

"Atlantic, Pacific or Indian?" Miku liked to abuse the few gaps in Luka's education.

"By the looks of this, **all three**. Look down at the street. It's like a shallow river." She definitely wasn't wearing any pricy shoes if she set foot outside.

"That's a lot worse than I expected. Did it rain like this the **entire night**? There are going to be flood warning everywhere."

"I'm suddenly extremely happy I don't live on the first floor." Luka's words made Miku remember something.

"The homeless girl I told you about, she said the first floor apartment in this building has nobody living in it so she crashes there sometimes."

"Please tell me you're not considering inviting her up. I love you, Miku, but I don't want homeless people in here."

"I never said anything like that. I just don't want her drowning. So when we go out, let's check if she's fine. That's all."

"That is, if she actually exists. Maybe there really were fumes."

"Geez, aren't you funny today."

"I should audition to be a comedy duo with you."

"Yes, yes, whatever you say. I'm giving Gumi a call and see how she is doing."

Dialing the number, someone knocked on the apartment door a few seconds later. Pointing at it, Luka went to answer the door while Miku stayed behind. "She isn't picking up..."

"Because they're here." Raising her voice to the point of almost shouting because of the rain noise from outside, Gumi and an extremely tired looking Lily were standing in the doorway. "You look like you didn't catch a wink of sleep last night, Lily."

"Just 'bout true." Getting in, Luka closed the door behind Gumi, who followed Lily and quickly walked over to Miku, a somewhat guilty expression on her face. "Sleepin' on the floor 's hard on anyone."

"What happened to the couch?" Luka was slightly confused.

"Seems I'm movin' too much when sleepin' alone so I fall off all the time. 'n Gumi ain't comfortable sharing her bed, not that I can blame her or anythin'." Lily stretched and yawned, feeling like someone had driven a car over her back and head.

"I feel guilty letting her sleep on the floor..." Gumi was keeping her voice low so the other two wouldn't hear her talking to Miku. "It's just... Lily is interested in girls, right? So letting her sleep in my bed with me is a bit..."

_Too early_, was what Miku thought but not said. "Lily doesn't seem like the type to hold that against you."

"Have you two seen the streets? It's like we're in Waterworld. Or almost." Lily looked at three very confused people. "Waterworld? You know, the 1995 movie? With Kevin Costner?" Receiving nothing but further confusion, Lily threw her hands up in the air. "It's about the entire world being submerged by water after the polar caps melt. You **really** never heard of it?"

"If Japan ends up underwater, I'm using you as boat, Lily." Luka gave the blonde a fake threatening look. "But seriously, what do we do? Come to think of it, how did you two get over here without getting totally wet?"

"There's no wind and the rain is coming straight down. We squeezed together under an umbrella." Lily opened the door briefly and picked up the soaking wet umbrella. "See?"

"I'll go fetch ours. Or however many we have." Scurrying around the apartment, Miku returned several minutes later, a single umbrella in hand. "One of these days I'm calling a cleaning service. And they'll charge me a million Yen for this, you slob." While they had waited, Luka had found herself some cheap shoes. Miku was already wearing sandals.

"When that happens I'll be able to pay them." Getting all three of them to laugh, Miku cautiously stepped outside, looking at the rain. It really was coming straight down, without any variations. She hoped that it was a sign that it was to be over soon.

Gumi and Lily, side by side, took the lead, descending the stairs. Just as they passed the first floor, Miku stopped them. "I want to check something." Looking at each door on the floor, four out of the five rooms had name plates while the fifth, furthest in the back, did not. Despite that, Miku could tell that **someone** was living inside. Because there were wet footsteps that vanished halfway under the door. Cautiously trying the door, it was unlocked. Opening it a bit, warm air greeted Miku.

"Miku, I know I like to do crazy stuff sometimes, but that's breaking and entering." Luka had followed her, a bit wary of what she was doing. "Is this about the homeless girl?"

"Yes. Hello?!" Shouting to the best of her ability, Miku wasn't given an answer in the next thirty seconds. Taking one step inside, Luka held her back.

"That's dangerous."

"Protect me, then." Pulling Luka inside, Miku could see that all the furniture inside was worn out but cared for. There was no obvious _homeless_ smell either. If anything, it was even a bit tidier than Luka's apartment. The songstress took lead, holding her umbrella like a sword. "I know I said protect me, but there is obviously nobody here."

Reaching the living room, the layout of the apartment slightly different than Luka's, Miku noticed four sleeping bags, arranged in a square pattern around a heating table. There were backpacks in each corner and various other things were spread around the room. "People are clearly living here." Miku knew she hadn't imagined the homeless girl. "Fumes, huh?"

"We should report this to the building manager." Luka wasn't too happy, having a bunch of homeless people living in the same building as she and Miku.

"I'm not talking to you for a month if you do." Miku's tone and look made very clear that she wasn't joking. "Look at all this stuff. They must have been using this apartment for months, maybe even years. If after all that time they haven't been noticed by anyone but us, they can't be doing anything bad."

Luka saw her point. Lowering her umbrella and rebuttals, she tried to walk back out. "Miku."

"I kinda want to leave something to eat on the table... I feel bad for these people."

"You said it yourself, they're probably been using this for months. They know where to get food. Not to mention, leaving something might tell them you know and that could spook them."

Walking out without any retorts, Miku took a last look back before leaving and closing the door. No matter what Luka said, she would leave something for the girl. Putting one and one together, she likely ran away when Miku mentioned a partner. Revealing herself to one person was risky but two...

Meeting Gumi and Lily near the front of the building, the two were almost cuddled together under their umbrella. Miku immediately wanted to take a picture with her cellphone but Gumi would probably be embarrassed so she didn't.

It was tricky to get through the rain without getting wet, beside the feet anyway, but they managed, if only moving ever so slowly as a result. A nearby bakery that Luka knew their first target, what looked like two couples quietly marched through the rain. Miku was in constant fear the umbrella would give in but, thankfully, it was sturdier than it looked.

All four of them had soaking wet and icy cold feet by the time they reached the bakery. Gumi and Miku really wished they had rubber boots. "It's completely dark and the door is locked." Having been outside, under the dark clouds, for a while, their eyes had adjusted. It was very much like an extremely cloudy winter morning now, when the sun hadn't quite risen yet. "Is there any other place that's close?" Lily didn't want to pick any more locks after yesterday. Especially not if it would be a crime.

"There is a convenience store two streets down the road. Other than that, I don't know. Most of the shops are at the town center and that's way too far going like this." Luka didn't go out on foot that much, so she didn't know if there were actually more shops.

"Let's check. I'm starving. I would kill for some packed lunches now." Miku was in a bad mood. No real dinner and no breakfast at all wasn't sitting well with her. Looking around while they were walking. Miku spotted someone she knew. On the other side of the street walked someone, carrying a very large and seemingly heavy bag in one hand and holding an umbrella in another. The homeless girl, Yukari!

"That's her!" Forcing Luka to stop and look on the other side of the street, the songstress was amazed her partner was able to make out someone on the other side of the street in the rain and dark.

"Fine, fine, I believe you already. I believed you since we found that room. Move, Gumi and Lily are leaving us behind." She didn't have the patience to get across the street and stop the homeless girl to let Miku talk to her.

"I see a light at the end of the rain!" Lily was shouting at the top of her lungs from the next corner. "Get going you two!"

Not waiting for Luka and Miku, Lily huddled up with Gumi so she wouldn't get wet and continued walking. "You've been awfully fidgety the whole time. Did I do something wrong?" Waiting a second, Lily raised her right arm and sniffed her armpit. "Do I stink? Is that it? I did brush my teeth, so it's not that, right?"

Gumi almost broke out in laughter despite the situation. "No, no, its nothing like that. Its..." She blushed a little, trying to put it into coherent words. "You like girls, right?"

When it came to romantic matters, Lily was quick to connect dots. "Oh." Her expression changed. "Oh!" Wanting to take a step back but the rain stopped her short. "I don't like giving people the wrong idea, so let me put this straight. I like girl, **and**, guys. And I make very clear when I make a move on someone. If they don't want me to, I can still be their friend."

"Lover's quarrel?" Luka and Miku showed up at the first timing and Luka made the worst possible comment.

All three of them were slightly shocked when Lily glared at Luka. "Shut up, now." Lily had a few iron rules she never broke, and being honest about her romantic interests was one of them. Looking at Luka and Miku, Lily didn't say anything else until Gumi stepped up.

"Can you give us a minute?" She didn't expect Lily to snap at Luka out of the blue. The couple left and Lily looked apologetic now.

"Comments like that have caused me a lot of grief in the past so I don't do well with them when I'm being serious." Despite her expression, Lily looked directly at Gumi. "If you ever feel like it, I'd love to go out with you. But until that, I'm completely fine just being friends."

Gumi didn't know if she had just been confessed to or being dumped preemptively. But she felt relieved somehow. "I never met someone who was **that** honest about this."

"After a dozen messed up relationships in less than two years, you start to set some rules for yourself." Looking towards the store, that was surprisingly having electricity through some magic means, Luka and Miku had to be in the store already since there was no trace of them outside.

"You should apologize to Luka later."

"I think it's at least half her fault but I'll do it anyway." Lily didn't want to let the situation become awkward between them.

"Miku probably chewed her out already."

"Considering Luka is the older one, why do I find that so convincing?" Laughing, the two found a shallow spot to get across the street. They hadn't seen a single car, taxi or bus during their entire walk, which was no surprise. To call it aqua planing was an understatement.

They were not even in the shop when Lily almost violently grabbed Gumi and pulled her to the side, out of line of sight from the door. Holding her right index finger to Gumi's lips, Lily carefully peeked past the large glass walls that were typical for convenience stores.

Miku and Luka were on the ground, hands over their head. A single person, Lily couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, was pointing a large knife at the cashier, who was just now opening the register, shaking in his boots.

It wasn't the first time Lily had witnessed an armed robbery. Thankfully, the robber didn't have a gun, which made it much less dangerous to do something about it. "Wait here." Ignoring the rain entirely, Lily left Gumi behind, running past the building, heading around the corner, running past several large dumpsters and finding the side entrance to the building. As she expected, it was locked, but she had learned a trick or two in the last few years. Looking for something usable, she found a large wooden board sticking out from a dumpster. Taking it and using it as make-shift crowbar, she forced the door open. The mechanism behind that was simply as there was no real lock during the times the shop was open, just a slight block that prevented easy access from the outside.

Going in, Lily found herself in the back of the store, immediately spotting a broom that would do well enough. A knife wasn't as dangerous as many people made it out to be if one could keep the attacker on distance. She still had to be careful.

Slowly opening the door to the store area, the robber was still there. The cashier was so nervous he had dropped the bag, apparently. Luck was on her side, the robber showing his back to her, not expecting anyone else to show up. Taking off her shoes and tip toeing, Miku and Luka could see her approaching the robber from behind, Luka keeping a perfect poker face while Miku seemed to be slightly panicking. Hiding behind a large shelf, so the cashier couldn't see her, Lily took a deep breath. She was still scared shitless of being stabbed, but she had dealt with people like this before. Most of them didn't know how to fight at all.

With a single swing, Lily left her cover, hitting the temple of the robber with the broom in full force. The pain of the impact not only made him drop the knife but also staggered him. Raising the broom for a second swing, Lily was surprised when the robber whirled around and jumped at her, forcing her on the ground. Judging by the weight and force, it was clearly a man and Lily found herself in trouble.

Both arms covering her face, she blocked two initial punches. Trying to force him off would be impossible by force alone but he was consistently moving around. She only needed to hold out long enough for him to get into the right position to hit his crotch with her knee.

The robber didn't account for Luka being there as well. Only when the songstress' foot hit his face after being swung through the air with a lot of force did he realize that he was outnumbered. Falling off, Lily took the chance and brutally slammed her right foot into his crotch, producing a pained howl from the guy just before he passed out from the intense pain.

The pink haired girl and the blonde towered over him. "He's not gonna get up for a while. Hey!" Shouting at the cashier, who had by now pressed the silent alarm, Lily got his attention. "Get me something to tie this garbage up." She only noticed it now but she was soaking wet from being exposed to the rain. A cute but loud sneeze followed that realization.

"Are you two crazy?!" Miku had gotten up as well and was glaring at both her partner and friend. "One or both of you could have gotten hurt!"

"Calm down, Miku, we know." Luka didn't find it in her to look sorry for doing the right thing. Petting Miku's head, she smiled instead. "Doesn't it feel good to do the right thing?"

"Still!"

"Luka is right." Getting a lot of those plastic bands that were used to secure packets from the cashier, Lily started making one big packet out of the robber, tying not only his hands but also arms, legs and feet together. "Considering how many times I've gotten into fights with a broom as my weapon of choice, I should start a martial arts school based on it." Exaggerating quite a bit, Lily, hoped the police would actually find a way to get to the store.

"Lily, where did you leave Gumi?" Miku was noticing that there was no trace of the other green haired girl.

"Ooops." Heading towards the front door, Lily started to shout. "Gumi, come in, we took care of the robber."

A few seconds later, a very worried looking Gumi stepped into the store. The cashier was still oddly nervous but she couldn't blame him. He had just gotten out of a robbery. "Are you all okay?"

"My arms are going to look like rainbows in a little bit but other than that we're fine, thanks to Luka." Lily looked to the songstress. "Thanks for saving my hide."

"Don't be silly. What kind of friend would I be if I let you get pummeled?" Luka was trying her hardest to ignore Miku's glare. She would hear about how reckless it was to attack the robber for weeks. That thought alone made her sigh.

"Uhm... thank you very much for helping me." The clerk was clearly intimidated by two women that took down an armed robber with little more than a broom and their shoes.

"I'm sure we can work out an agreeable discount for their help." Turning to the cashier and smiling as wide as she could, Luka's partner knew when to make a profit. Miku's smile was that of a very stingy and frugal person and the cashier recognized it. Not that he had much choice.

While Lily and Luka, one grabbing the feet, the other grabbing the shoulders, got the tied up robber out of the way, Miku and Gumi started to shop. "How do you have power anyway?" Lily was curious.

"We have a generator in the back. They are standard issue for our chain since last month but most stores haven't gotten theirs yet. We were lucky."

"You should order one of those things for your apartment, Luka." Lily knew how unreasonable that was.

"If you carry it."

"Too bad then."

Both of them laughed together.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

After thirty minutes of waiting, four policemen showed up on foot, as driving a car anywhere was completely impossible by now. The four girls had gotten comfortable in the store, eating some of the freebies Miku had _negotiated_ for them. The cashier was near tears, having lost almost half of the money the robber would have taken because of discounts.

After a lecture about attacking armed people by the police, the four girls left. Lily was pretty cold and had really wanted to go home, but given what had happened, none of the other three would let her go. Finally on their way back, every single one of the four carrying a large and heavy bag of food they didn't need to cook to eat, their mood was on the rise again.

Miku was still angry over how reckless Lily and Luka had been but given their loot, she was willing to give it a rest. It took them over twenty minutes to get back, a distance they could have traveled in less than five minutes in a car. Arriving at the building, Miku spotted Yukari again, who was leaned over the guard rail and staring out into the rain. Before she could say anything, the girl noticed the four and vanished, almost like a ghost.

"Finally. Home." Luka was slightly out of breath and very much out of patience for seeing rain and umbrellas.

"You don't mind us staying at your place until tonight or whenever power comes back on?" Gumi didn't want to impose but she really didn't want to be alone in the dark apartment with Lily, especially when they didn't have anything to do. Not after walking huddled up through the rain for a good hour.

"Just the opposite, Miku and I would probably be bored out of our mind if you two went back to your own apartment." Taking out her keys and unlocking her apartment, Luka's mood took a slight dive when she realized that there would be no cooled drinks. "Just put the bags somewhere in the kitchen."

"Luka, I'll be back in a few minutes." Carrying two boxed lunches from her own bag, Miku didn't want for a response and left. It was no mystery where she was going, carrying food and no umbrella.

Descending the stairs, Miku found Yukari back on her spot, partially bend over the guard rail, looking into the rain. Judging by the look of her clothes, she had walked through the rain without an umbrella. "Yukari." She wasn't quite comfortable using the name the girl introduced herself with but simply calling her **'you'** was wrong too.

"Miku?" Turning around and facing the young pop star, Yukari was surprised to see her come down all by herself.

"You know my name?"

"Miku Hatsune, a new and rising star in the music industry, most well known for her duet with Luka Megurine, Magnet. Of course I know."

Miku couldn't tell for sure but she got the impression the girl knew more than she let on. Everything about her was **odd**, to say the least. "Who are you exactly?"

"I'm just Yukari." Yukari's smile carried a mysterious vibe. She didn't expect Miku to be that sharp.

Getting a bit closer, Miku thought that she had seen her before. But where? Did she just imagine it? "Can I ask what your last name is?"

"Did you know that there are some things in the world you're better off without knowing?"

Miku was sure now she had seen her before. The more she talked, the more she realized she didn't so much knew **her** but her **voice**. There was only one reason that could be. She still couldn't pinpoint who the girl was.

"I can tell by your looks you're not going to let me off the hook with that." Compared to the day before, she seemed completely different. Not as nice and polite but much more confident. "Are those for me?"

"You asked me for something to eat yesterday and I couldn't give you anything." Raising the boxed lunches a little, Miku smiled briefly. "We found a store that was open so here you go."

"I didn't expect Miku Hatsune to have a strong sense of sympathy for the poor and homeless. You live with a star and you're well on your way to become one yourself. Why bother what people like me think of you?" There it was again. A complete turnaround in attitude. Mysterious and secretive had made space for spiteful and prejudice.

That change triggered Miku to remember. It was all over the news for several weeks. A controversial singer known for her many on-stage personalities had vanished without a trace on her way home. The police looked for weeks, suspecting a kidnapping, but no ransom note ever came. After three months, the world had moved on. "Yuzuki Yukari, that's you, isn't it?"

"Oh, you figured it out. I thought I could have a little more fun. I'm sorry for playing around but it's not often I get to talk to someone my age." Another attitude change, back to being friendly although not quite polite.

"You ran away, didn't you?" Miku connected the dots. If she was living on the street by her own choice, as she claimed, then it was pretty clear that vanishing had been her own doing.

"I was so incredibly sick of the show business. Constant interviews, rehearses, guest appearances in variety shows, the zealots and a lot of other things. I don't regret running. They would have never let me quit."

"Some of your hits like _0:00_ and _Swallowtail on the Spider'z Net _still occasionally run in the radio. Did you never want to go back to singing?"

"Maybe if all of the people that bossed me around back then would drop dead." Rolling eyes, Yukari turned to Miku. "I'm exaggerating. I don't want them to drop dead, just be out of my life." Waiting a few seconds, Yukari turned back towards the rain. "Don't tell anyone I'm here. I'll just vanish again and I actually like it around here."

"Isn't your family worried about you?" Miku knew that Neru and Haku would be worried sick if she just suddenly vanished.

"My parents are horrible. All they saw was the success and the money it got them. It's the same with my sister. After seeing how much money I brought in, they sent her to a music school and everything. I hear she had success in Korea. She's their money maker now. And you know how I know they never cared about me beside the money? After I ran, the name Yuzuki had a negative ring in the industry, so they went to all the trouble of changing their name. As far as I'm concerned, there is no Yuzuki family anymore." A hateful look on her face, Yukari spat over the guard rail, nothing but contempt for the people that were her parents in the eyes of the purple haired girl. The hate quickly dissipated and made way for a more relaxed look. "I have to get back inside and you should go back up or your friends will show. Please don't come into the room anymore, by the way. And thanks for not reporting us."

Miku knew that someone had to have been in the room that time. They had heard Luka and her talk. "Take these. Share them if you want. If you need something, you can talk to me."

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself as you can see." Smiling, Yukari took the lunches, opened the door and went into the apartment, two other female voices greeting her. Miku was left behind outside, only the rustling sound of the rain disrupting the silence.

Getting back up, Miku felt like she had stuck her nose into something she should have kept away from.

~~~ End of Concert XII ~~~


	13. Need and Sin

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XIII**

_Need and Sin_

"Hey, Yu, who were you talking to?" One of the girls was curious. Usually, the blonde wasn't that talkative.

"Nobody important. And don't call us both Yu, it gets confusing." Grabbing an orange from the table, courtesy of the girl that had just asked her, Yukari involuntarily started to think about her past and, most of all, about her sister. She had always looked up to her like she was a goddess when they were young and it had gotten even worse when she started singing.

Every CD, every poster, every piece of merchandise... it had driven her to the edge of disgust how obsessed the girl had become. Knowing that she was far away in Korea was, if anything, relieving. She hadn't told Miku the whole truth of it.

It wasn't just the business she ran away from, or the heartless money making expectations her parents had. She was also sick of the way her sister behaved. The constant worship had been only off putting at first, but eventually it grew into something she was almost afraid of. Her parents were fully aware of it and didn't care as long as the money came in. The wealth had completely blinded them.

One day, they would realize what they had done to their daughters and possibly beg for forgiveness but it was far too late for that. She knew that her sister didn't care about her parents at all. For her, stardom was all about the money and being like her, Yukari.

"I don't get how Yu can have fun playing outside in a weather like this." The same girl that had addressed Yukari before bend backwards and looked at the ceiling. "This sure beats staying out on the street."

"Whose fault do you think it is it that we're sitting on the street?" The second girl, who had been quiet until now, glared at the redhead that sat across her. "This is all your fault, sis."

"Oh shut it, rainbow face."

"Will you both shut it? I went through all the trouble of buying things with the money we earned so be grateful and give me some peace and quiet." Yukari was in the worst of moods now. Moving back from the table and crawling into her sleeping back, she almost hissed at the other two girls. "One of you stay awake. If Yu comes back, tell her to go home already. She's been here since early this morning."

"Sure, sure." Waving, the redhead glared at the blonde that sat across her.

Hearing the two sisters act like idiots for a few more minutes before she slipped away, Yukari wondered if her own sister was still an obsessed freak or if she had grown out of it. If the latter was true, she would like to make up with her. The former... she'd rather stay homeless.

Slipping away into a dreamless sleep, it wasn't until a few hours later that she woke up again, several loud thuds the reason. Getting out of the sleeping bag, she could saw the sisters fight over the table, pulling each others hair, cheeks and scratching each others faces. Getting up ever so slowly, Yukari emitted a horrible aura of anger. "I assume both of you want to spend the remainder of this storm outside, is that it?"

"Oh put a sock in it. You don't own this place!" The redhead responded angrily while the blonde let go and returned to her seat.

The sound of Yukari's hand hitting the redheads face was loud enough to make the blonde twitch. "You two idiots wouldn't know where to get food, where to find a safe place to stay the night, where to go to make some money or even where you can get a shower once in a while if not for me, so show some damn respect!"

Silent tears running down the redheads face, she couldn't argue with that. Getting up and walking to a corner, sitting down and moping, she put hid her face behind her knees, too afraid she would be completely on her own if she said anything.

Yukari exhaled deeply. She had come across the two girls a days ago, both of them arguing over who would go and ask for money so they could buy food. Just looking at them, Yukari felt sorry. They had obviously no idea how to deal with things on the street, and to make it worse, they didn't know what the town was like either.

She didn't know that much of them. Both had come chasing after their oldest sister and ran away from home. That had reminded Yukari so much of her own history that she wanted to help them. Beside that, she just knew their names, that they were sisters, had very volatile views on music, no idea who she used to be and a few details about their lives and hobbies.

Nobody had inherent talent for living on the street and those who had been horrid at first and were still close to that state. They lacked the attention and finesse to steal, they didn't have the personality to beg and they were overly arrogant for the position they were in. In the end, she had taken them to a bicycle shop that was always overworked and looking for part-timers. Having them polish things was boring and exhausting physical labor, but it was one of the few things they could do. They weren't paid much at all, but it was enough to buy food.

Life on the street was hard and they were slow to understand that. People would look down on you and sometimes, you had to go hungry for a while. Extremely few had the chance to live in a somewhat empty apartment like this. With the sisters she had picked up, something she had regretted a few times already, they were now four people coming and going from this place. Before the sisters, it had almost only been her. The only occupant other than her was a true monster of a man that only sometimes came back to sleep, never arriving before midnight and never staying after sunrise. And still, his appearance kept thieves and molesters away, which was a useful thing to have.

Trying to go back to sleep, as there wasn't anything useful to do when the weather was like that, and sleeping conserved energy, something she wouldn't have to replenish with food, Yukari couldn't find peace, her throat awfully dry. Getting up for the second second time, she walked over to a window that had several nylon strings attached to it. Rain wasn't exactly the most delicious drink but it came free and that was too good to pass up.

Taking the middle string and pulling it up, a bottle that had been hanging out in the rain, Yukari drank as much as she could. While the rain was going on, water was all but a scarce resource for once, giving her the luxury to do that. Putting the bottle bag where it belonged, Yukari walked past the still moping redhead. "Stop crying a river and go to sleep. When this rain stops, we'll have to go and make some money, we're practically out. You too."

The blonde obeyed first and got into her sleeping bag. It smelled awfully much of jasmine, the perfume she had worn the day they had ran away. It was better than body odor at least. Her sister didn't have the luck of having worn perfume.

Laying in her sleeping bag, Yukari felt jealous of Miku for just the tiniest moment. She disliked the girl already.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Resting her head on Luka's lap, both of them sitting on their bed, Miku was in a bad mood. Meeting the former star, she had experienced somewhat of a dampener on her expectations for the future. She doubted that she'd end up like that, but there were problems she had never considered and was now thinking about.

Playing with Miku's long hair, Luka knew when she shouldn't pry. Whatever had gotten Miku all lost in thought was something she needed to work out on her own. Gumi and Lily had, after they all had eaten and listened to some funny stories of Lily's, gone back to their own apartment, deciding to spend the day carrying small things from the old apartment to the new one and possibly finding a solution to Lily's sleeping problem.

"Have you ever regretted becoming a songstress, Luka?" Miku was curious what her much more experienced partner was thinking.

"Several times, yes. It's a lot of work to deal with the press and pretend to be someone you're not. And you know how lazy I am when it comes to these things. It's also often annoying when meeting new people. A lot of them are shallow and only like me because I'm famous." Bending over and kissing Miku's nape, Luka was incredibly happy to have met her. "I'm happy you're not like that."

"Have you ever wanted to run away from all of it?" Miku smiled when Luka flattered her. "I'm happy to have met you, too."

"I wanted to just stay home and become a hermit a few times, but I still went to work later so I can't say I wanted to run away from it. I know you better than to think you're feeling like running away from this, so what brought this on?"

"Nothing serious. I just met someone I didn't think I'd ever personally see. Believe me, I love this line of work."

"You won't after this storm is over. They will want to capitalize on the aftermath of this and there is also a festival coming up. We'll be up over our ears in work. Remember you asked me that one time why I have that really expensive sleeping bag in my closet?"

"You're not gonna tell me that you **sleep** over at the agency, right?"

"Twenty hour work days are rare but they do exist for us."

"You could have told me sooner, you know? I'd have done some work in advane."

"Most of the time we don't write our own songs anyway. There is a lot of marketing and licensing politics involved that we're much better off without touching. If it wasn't for the blackout, we would probably have spent this entire day working already. But I get to have you use me as lap pillow in exchange, so I'm good."

Groaning, Miku rolled over, looking up at her love. "It's been a while so... I actually forgot what we're going to be doing next."

"You have two solos coming up, I got one. We also have a duet. Gumi also has two solos to produce." Luka was lazy but she was a professional.

"That sounds like I'm going to be working hell hours." Miku turned a little pale. Two songs and a duet was a lot of ground to cover, especially after having already lost a full day of work. It was late in the afternoon by now and the power still hadn't come back on nor had the storm stopped. At least the latter was no longer any big mystery.

Having bought batteries at the convenience shop, Miku had fed them to her radio, which was now silent, to check for any news on the weather and the blackout. While the power was expected to come back on within the next twenty-four hours, the storm was to last for another two days. There had been a very big fuss among meteorologists because of this unnatural weather, but in the end it had turned out that there was a massive drought going on elsewhere and all the rain was ending up here.

"I always hated working the long hours but since you'll be there, it won't be as bad. I'm more worried about Gumi. With what happened to Sonika, she's probably not in the mood to do her normal stuff."

"She's a pro, just like you. Would you let your mood influence what you want to sing?"

"If I did, I would be singing nothing but silly love songs because of you."

Blushing at Luka's words, something Miku wasn't doing that often anymore, a embarrassed but love smitten smile showed on her face. "I never expected that things would turn out like this between us. I never really thought about liking girls before I met you."

"We both won the partner lottery at the same time, full jackpot."

"Aren't you full of yourself!" Laughing, Miku slowly got up with Luka's help, kissing her partner in the cheek before getting off the bed. "Bathroom."

"Keep the seat down!"

Grabbing an extra pillow that was laying on the floor, Miku threw it as hard as she could at Luka, who caught it with ease, both of them laughing.

Falling back onto the bed and yawning, Luka was truly happy. After becoming a star, the only things she had missed in her life were friends she could trust and someone she really loved. Gumi and Lily were mostly filling the first spot and Miku more than filled the second. She wouldn't openly tell her, but Luka counted herself the most fortunate person on the planet, being Miku's lover. She would have give up everything for her. Telling her that would only make her angry, though, so she didn't.

"Miku?!" Shouting from her bedroom, Luka waited for an answer.

"What?" The answer was another shout from the bathroom, through closed doors.

"Is the seat down?"

No answer came and Luka grinned to herself. She liked to tease Miku a lot since her reactions ranged from cute to adorable. Without warning, a large pillow covered her face and someone was getting on top of her. Struggling while laughing, Luka couldn't shake her off. Giving up, slapping her hand twice on the bed, a red faced Luka emerged below a laughing Miku who held the pillow she attacked with in her hands.

With one powerful move, Luka grabbed her partner, forced her off and reversed their positions, her right hand immediately landing on Miku's breasts. To her surprise, Miku didn't resist at all. "Round two?"

"Only because we'll be too dead to do it when work comes in."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Neru wasn't sure she was okay with Haku actually doing something as crazy as participating in a band. She was still so shy around other people that she couldn't see it working out. But watching Neru actually practice on a really old keyboard she owned, she couldn't bring herself to tell her half-sister that.

"I haven't seen you play in a long time, Haku." Laying naked in Haku's bed, Neru couldn't understand how Haku was able to get up and focus on practice so soon after they had slept with each other. Her much more busty partner had already picked up her clothes and had gotten dressed to continue where she had left off before Neru came into her room, really longing to sleep with her.

Haku loved Neru, but she was self-conscious of her problems and wanted to stop being a shut-in. That Lily girl was a bit similar to Neru in how she looked and the way she acted. She didn't feel frightened at all around her. Thinking about the moment the power went out and she clung to her, Haku fiercely blushed. Thankfully, it was too dark for Neru to see it. The keyboard didn't make any sound either, but Haku was practicing reading notes, still able to remember what keys to hit. Their only source of light were several candles.

"I always liked playing. I want to play again." She wasn't quite as shy with only Neru around. Over the last months, Haku had gradually gotten a little better than before. With Miku not around as much anymore, she had to do more things herself, and realizing that she **could** do them helped her self-esteem. She just didn't think she could ever actually sing again, not even if it was just for Neru.

"Don't over-exert yourself, Haku. Luka will be there and you're not very good with her." Neru was more worried about Haku getting hurt emotionally than anything else. Miku was doing a good job at keeping her girlfriend under control, but...

"Miku and Lily will be there." Haku realized that getting along with Luka would be very hard for her, but she would at least try. Finding the motivation to do it after meeting Lily and Miku asking her personally to help, she felt a lot more secure than she had in a long time. Being needed by Miku and Lily praising her looks had really boosted her self-esteem.

"You're really fond of that Lily girl. Who is she, anyway?"

"Miku's friend. I... don't really know her but she was very nice." Stopping her practice, Haku sighed. It was a lot harder to regain what she had lost by stopping for so long than she had expected. She hoped there wouldn't be any difficult parts for her to play until she got better.

"I'm happy for her that she started to have more friends, but she is really attracting a lot of weird figures." Getting out of bed and walking stark naked through the room, Neru sat down behind Haku, hugging her, both her arms resting just above the silver haired woman's breasts. "And I'm worried about you."

"I know..." Looking a bit sad, Haku knew that Neru worried with good reason. She wasn't good with Luka, barely knew Gumi and Lily and a band would eventually play in front of many people, which would be incredibly difficult for her. Neru had every reason to be worried. "But..."

"You don't want to be a caged bird forever. I know that better than anyone, stupid." Poking Haku's cheek, Neru rested her head against Haku's. "I just don't want you to start flapping your wings from a skyscraper."

"Do you not want me to help Miku?"

"I didn't say _that._ I'm telling you to be careful and not have too high expectations. And most of all, you shouldn't compare yourself to them. They're used to be the center of attention, you're only my center of attention."

Blushing, Haku found that to be an incredibly sweet thing to say. "Say Neru..."

Making a question hum, Neru kept her position, enjoying Haku's scent. It reminded her a little of the girl's favorite brand of alcohol, one she also very much enjoyed. As opposed to Miku and her friends, Haku was quite a bit older than them, and that too, was something that worried Neru a little.

"Do you think I will... fit in? On Stage?"

"Out of you five, you're the most beautiful, Haku. There will be lots of people that will only look at you while you guys are playing." That was, if they ever got to the point where they go on stage in front of people.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Cut! Cut!" Angry shouting filled the room. For the fourth time in a row the scene hadn't gone as envisioned. Jumping up, the director angrily lashed out at one of his two stars. "I **told** you to make it look passionate! Your fans expect you to **love** each other! What part of that is so hard to understand?"

"It's not you who has to work with this bird brain! I'm trying but how am I supposed to look smitten if her eyes look fucking through me like I don't exist?!" Pushing her partner out of the way, the blonde stepped off the stage, her blue eyes narrowed to angry slits and the echoes of her heels causing everyone else to take shelter. Sitting down in her seat, the girl angrily exhaled, picking up a big plastic cup of coffee and taking a sip through the straw at the top. The liquid barely touched her lips when she looked up. "Who brought this?"

Nobody spoke up. Jumping up, the blonde got louder. "Who the hell brought this?" Noticing that one particular staff member was much more nervous than the others, she threw the cup at him, the hot coffee spilling all over him. "**That shit is disgusting! Are you trying to poison me or something?**"

"Kim, please, stop that." The blonde's manager finally stepped in. "We'll take a ten minute break!"

"I told you to call me by my damn stage name!" Biting her thumb, the girl sat back down, cursing. "Why do I have to work with that bitch? She's not even Korean! Fucking Japanese cunt! Why do I have to work with her, huh?!"

"Seeu, please calm down. We've been over this. For now, we're pretending she is Korean, just like you!" Her agent was used to her violent temper and nature. She was a first class actress and singer but her temper constantly got her into trouble. She finally made it big by teaming up with another girl.

"It's a fucking disgrace that she gets to call herself Korean in public! Don't you people have no national pride at all?" Glaring at her _partner_, Seeu wanted to just smack her face in. Of all the things they could have tried, they got popular when they pretended to be lesbians. She didn't have a problem with that by definition but she sure as hell couldn't stand having to do it with a Japanese girl. Nobody could tell what part of Asia they came from under all the makeup and stylist tricks they were covered in.

"And what the hell was up with that meeting earlier? Going to Japan? Huh? Are you fucking shitting me? What reason do I have to go to that filthy land full of _Oh, so moe-moe-kyun kawaii!_ faggots that haven't kissed a girl their entire life?"

"Your songs _Bullet_ and C:Drive Vocaloid have annihilated the foreign music chart over there for the past months and-"

"Big fucking deal. They can't make decent music if their life depended on it."

"Like I was saying, you've been invited and the agency wants you to go because it would be a really big popularity boost if you could get popular in Japan. It would also bring you more fans back home!"

Clicking her tongue so loud and angrily that a nearby staff member nervously walked away, Seeu glared towards her partner again. "I hate her!"

At the other end of the room, Seeu's partner was relaxing in her own chair, going through dozens of images on her smartphone, her gaze dreamy and blissfully directed at the pictures. "Ah, even today you're so pretty..."

A staff member that was new got curious what she was looking at and faked passing by behind her, catching a glimpse of purple hair under a dirty hood. Who in the world had she taken pictures of?

"Hey." Ia's voice took a dramatic dive to downright evil and murderous. "The hell are you looking at with those damn eyes of yours? You better not be looking at these pictures." Looking back over her shoulder, towards the staff member, Ia's eyes were small, narrow slits, her look giving off a dangerous vibe. "**She's mine. I'll kill you.**"

Without losing a single second, he moved away as quickly as he could. Not even five seconds later, Ia was back to being in bliss, looking through the over hundred images she had received that morning. "Ah... you're so cute even naked..." Sucking on her left pinky, she got horny just looking at the images. Nobody could tell from her glassy look, but she wanted to start masturbation right there and then. "Why must you be so cute, strong, smart... ah, you're just perfect, **Sis**."

Her agent watched from the distance, fully aware of how dangerous her obsession was. Over a year ago, she had started using the money she earned to pay a private eye back in Japan to track down her sister. But that wasn't enough. Unable to go back to Japan, Ia started paying him to follow her everywhere and take photos. She had even gone as far as to bug some of her clothes so she could record her voice and endlessly listen to it. There was nothing she would stop at when it came to her sister.

Plugging headphones into her smartphone, she started one of her favorite tracks, titled _Yukari humming a the cutest tune to be ever created_. Humming along with it, she looked completely innocent and cute from the distance. But that was a shaky lie. As soon as someone would even look at the pictures of her sister, she was ready to gouge out their eyes. Despite all of that, she was a rising star in the business.

A few seconds after Ia had listened to the track for the eleventh time, it was time to continue working. "Okay, break is over! Get back up there, girls!"

Clicking her tongue, Ia got up. She didn't have anything personally against Seeu, but there was only one person in the universe she liked and nobody could ever hope to compete with her. She knew that she had to do her job though.

Taking her stance, across Seeu, the music was turned on, both of them moving exactly as they had practiced, slowly getting closer. Reaching out first, Seeu looked at Ia with longing eyes, desire wildly burning in them, her arm stretched out.

Taking her hand, pulling Seeu close, Ia held her close in her arms, her eyes like those of a hunter, wild ablaze with lust. Despite it being an act, despite her hatred towards the girl, Seeu's heart beat like crazy while she was being held. Their hands put together, singing the same lyrics together, their fingers locked. Ia was completely merciless when it came to playing with others affection for her or giving them fake affection of her own.

The direction for the song's finale was for them to separate, Ia holding Seeu back, pulling her close and faking a kiss. Pushing Ia away, Seeu faked tears and regret, trying to walk away, Ia's grip on her wrist more powerful than she had expected, forcefully holding her back. To everyone around them, it looked extremely real, but as things were the case with Ia and Seeu, they couldn't have been more fake.

Pulling her back again, Ia decided to pay the girl back for shoving her earlier. Straying from the script, she laid a single hand on Seeu's cheek, her eyes so wild and monstrous that the blonde couldn't look away. When the scheduled gust of wind from the machinery hit them, their long hair creating a storm of strands, Ia forcefully pushed her lips on Seeu's, her eyes still wide open, like those of a beast. Seeu almost panicked when she felt Ia's tongue slide into her mouth. The gaze was keeping her almost paralyzed, unable to push her away. There was no emotion or passion in the kiss. Even a stranger would have kissed her with more feeling to it.

The wind vanished and Ia finally let go of Seeu, only to walk away with a completely nonchalant and uncaring face. "Good job." Her words were empty and shallow, Ia returned to her seat, picking up her smartphone and calling someone.

"That bitch..." Spitting and cleaning her lips with the sleeve of her costume, Seeu was furious and horribly embarrassed. Nobody had seen that the kiss wasn't fake but real. Even if she made a fuss, nobody would believe her anyway. They were all idiots, oblivious to how much of a monster that girl was!

Already out of the room, Ia was on the phone. "Are all the arrangements done? Good. I will be in Japan very soon. I expect things to go as expected." Hanging up, nobody but her knew who she had just called. Being famous gave one the means to pull strings here and there. "Soon, Yu~ka~ri." Smiling to herself, she headed for her room to get her things. She was done for today and she would use the remainder of her free time to enjoy her most favorite activity, watch images of her sister on a large projector she had bought for her apartment while listening to her voice. She had very few video records of her since they were difficult to do unnoticed, but she did have three, each of which she watched multiple times before going to work and after.

Back in the studio were Ia's agent, a middle aged woman, and Seeu's agent, a young woman, both of them fully aware that they were stuck with problem children. "Want to go to the bar? My treat." Ia's agent was worried that Seeu might pull some kind of stunt on Ia that triggered her switch, ending with Seeu in the hospital or worse.

"Sure. I really need a drink now. Seeu?" Looking around, she found the girl almost burning through her chair, so angry was she. "This was originally my song! Why was it turned into a duet?"

"Kim, we-"

"Huh? What the hell did you just call me?"

"Seeu, we've been over this a dozen times. You work for the agency and so do I. We don't get to decide these things, the higher ups do."

"The higher ups can go and fuck themselves silly with a broom or something." Jumping up and walking away, she didn't leave the room without shouting at a staff member who jumped out of the way in surprise.

"They're going to kill each other one day."

"Let's hope we're retired or dead before that happens."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

To their surprise, the town had power again as early as ten in the morning. The rain was still coming down like crazy and driving a car was still impossible. Despite that, Miku and Luka had to get to work. Gumi was getting there on her own while Lily stayed behind. Sitting in the conference room, Miku and Luka were flattened by the load of work that was coming to them. Luka had a dance choreography to learn for the duet and her solo, Miku was freed of the dance routine but had six scheduled interviews, two of which with Luka and one with Gumi, all additionally to two solos and the duet. Late in the briefing of their workload, Gumi's agent showed up, informing them that one of her solos was canceled due to poor emotional state and instead it would be an entirely new song with Miku, pushing her to do two duets.

That was their workload for the next two weeks alone. Miku was happy that they had stopped on the way and she had bought a brand new, high quality sleeping bag. Because she might as well have rented a room at the studio with this workload.

Luka tried to smile at her but was exhausted just thinking of the workload. "Told you." Showing up a few minutes later, Gumi was carrying what looked like a veritable mountain of papers with her. "Same boat as us?" Nodding while putting the papers down, Gumi didn't expect there to be that much work.

Starting work half an hour later, first up was the duet between Miku and Gumi a full PV accompanying the track itself. Sitting in makeup for fifteen minutes already, all of Miku's face was itching and she would have killed to be able to scratch her nose. Already wearing her costume, which was simply a green tracksuit with white stripes along the arms, brown leather gloves, white headphones and a fitting green tracksuit pair of pants and sneakers. The excruciatingly annoying part was the makeup she had to wear. Her skin was to be completely white with additional highlights on her face.

"What does Matryoshka even mean?"

"It comes from the Matryoshka doll that comes from Russia." Gumi was reading up on it. Both of them sat side by side, looking into a large mirror, a skilled makeup artist preparing them. The whole thing would be filmed in front of a green screen with a rather bizarre execution. The company was trying to appeal with the weirdness of the duet.

"Have you put on colored lenses before?" The question was directed at Miku.

"I didn't hear about that. Is that really necessary?"

"There are a lot of close-ups, so yes."

Taking off her gloves, Miku carefully took the small container and even more carefully put the colored lenses on her eyes, blinking a few times to get used to it. "I feel like I fell into a bucket of pain and glue." Miku didn't feel well at all.

Gumi followed the same instructions, quietly and without question. She had more experience than Miku and had gone through similar stages of preparation before. She was wearing a red hoodie, the same brown gloves as Miku, red tracksuit pants and had to deal with the same skin layer makeup as Miku. It would take a very long shower to get rid of that and given their workload, that meant she would likely walk around the rest of the day like that.

Finally getting out of makeup after half an hour of sitting like a puppet, Miku felt tired already. "We looks like freaks."

"The PV won't be difficult as we're not actually moving very much. It is a lot of still shots and a few movements." Handing Miku the papers with the instructions, Gumi was completely in professional mode. Hearing music nearby, Miku knew that Luka was doing the first tone tests for her song. "I'll be right back." She wanted to see Luka at work.

Arriving in the room that was connected to the recording room by a large glass window, Miku picked up one of the headphones and held it next to her head. The music was loud, powerful and guitar heavy. And then Luka's voice set in. To Miku's surprise, it was in English.

"**Wash my Blood of Agony – Proof of my Virginity – Wash my Blood of Insanity – Sacrifice of Maiden Head for You.**" As always, Luka's voice was very impressive. Miku had a lot of respect for her that way. But before the song continued, Luka shook her head, raised her finger and made a circle in the air. The music looped from the start.

While lazy and irresponsible in normal life, Luka was quite the professional when it came to work. Feeling someone tug on her sleeve, it was Gumi, who gave her a scolding look, something she hadn't seen before. "You don't have the luxury of listening in on Luka right now."

Returning to the set and reading the instructions, Miku found it easy to memorize them. The first shot had them stand side by side for a few seconds and shake their heads. Most of what followed was them mirroring each others moves. They would record the song separately later, due to the way the PV was designed their mouths were not supposed to move during it.

Ten minutes passed before the camera men, director and a few other staff members gave the signal that they were ready to go. "I can do this." Motivating herself, Miku was surprisingly nervous.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Having gotten to roughly the middle of the track, Luka did the same gesture she had done over thirty times already at this point, whirling her finger around just before she made a different gesture, moving her hand back and forth in front of her throat. She wanted to take a break to clear her head. Switching rooms, Luka was sweating a lot. It was tiring to sing for so long and repeat the same lines over and over. Grabbing a bottle of water, Luka ignored all the people telling her that she was doing good. Sitting down, emptying half the water bottle, Luka put on headphones and let the track she was supposed to sing play over them, going over her lines.

She wondered how Miku and Gumi were holding up. By now, they had to have finished the PV and go on to record the song. Taking off her headphones after the song had played twice, she left the studio room and took a peek into the one next door.

Gumi and Miku, looking like defeated boxers, were sitting on chairs at the back, looking like monsters from a Hitchcock movie. "Having a hard time?" She was on break as well, so she could afford to go in and talk to them. Walking to Miku and sitting her to her, she petted her head.

"I never thought it would be **this** hard to synchronize our tempo." Miku had done it before with Luka, but Gumi was completely different. Trying to compensate for Miku's lack of experience, Gumi fell off-tone too often and when she didn't compensate, Miku got off-tempo at times.

"It's not just your fault, Miku. I don't have experience with duets either. We can only keep trying. How are things for you Luka?"

"Difficult. I'm better at Japanese than I'm at English and the entire song is English. It's pretty difficult. A few times my pronunciation slips and then I have to start from the top. You two looks horrifying and adorable at the same time, by the way." Luka was trying hard to suppress a big grin, with only mediocre success, proven by Miku slapping her shoulder.

"Do you have any tips for us, Luka?" Miku wanted to finish the song as soon as possible. She still had two solos and a duet to cover in terms of lyrics.

"Try holding hands." Dodging Miku's hand, Luka raised her finger. "I'm serious. It will help you keep in the same tempo. Also try to stand next to each other, not opposed."

Someone knocked on the door and upon spotting Luka it was clear that he was looking for her. Pointing on his wristwatch, Luka understood and got up. "Try to relax a little. Being tense will just make you go off-tempo, Miku." She didn't need to tell this to Gumi, considering she was already a pro.

Going back to her own work, Luka wondered if they would be able to work it out.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

It was past five when Luka finished and got to studying lyrics, past six when Gumi and Miku finally finished recording, and past seven when they had used the staff showers to get their makeup off. While Gumi was free to go home, work hadn't ended for Luka and Miku yet. A reporter had shown up just then.

Miku and Luka were both waiting in Luka's changing room, where Luka also kept her sleeping bag, the green haired girl every bit as nervous when she had first met Luka. "Miku, breathe. You're starting to look like a titan smurf."

"That's easy for you to say!" She was so nervous that she could barely drink or eat anything despite being really thirsty and hungry. "Don't they usually give us answer sheets for this or something?!"

"Miku, you watch too much TV." Grinning, Luka petted her head. "They only do that when it's a live interview. This is a written article, so they'll be able to just cut things we need to have cut. Our agents generally take care of that."

"I'm still nervous." Miku almost jumped up when Luka suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in for a quick kiss. Her face fire red, Miku jumped up. "What if she had come in here?!"

"My, that would have been terrible." Luka smiled wide. Making Miku anger was at least one way to make her ease up.

Someone knocked twice and Miku sat down so quickly she almost fell down. "Come in."

While Luka and Miku sat side by side in comfortable armchairs, one of Luka's privileges as the main star, the reporter stood while introducing herself. Miku's body wanted to get up and bow, since it was etiquette to do that, Luka held her back without the reporter noticing it. Giving her a single look made clear that Miku should follow her lead. "Nesiji Kande from Modern Vocals. Please to meet you." Bowing slightly, the reporter then sat down across the two in the remaining empty armchair.

"Pleased to meet you." Answering nonchalantly and unmoving, Luka looked to Miku, who repeated the phrase after her, trying very hard not to give in to the etiquette she had learned. She had slept dozens of times with Luka, shared showers, toothbrushes and all sorts of things with her, so why was she so incredibly nervous just sitting next to her.

"Do you mind if we start right away?" Taking out a small recording device, a pen and a note pad, the reporter had already made several notes and prepared questions.

"Of course, go ahead." Luka was like a different person in front of others. Miku didn't recognize her at all.

"Many of our readers are wondering when and what your next work will be about, Miss Megurine."

"Luka will be just fine. I have in fact just finished recording a powerful song that will with certainty storm the charts with force, if you may excuse the pun in saying so. However, the true highlight of this season is yet to come."

"Could it be the much anticipated next duet between you and our new star, Miss Hatsune? Fans all over Japan have been wondering when we can expect more of her refreshing work to come and, most of all, of course when and if there will be a continuation to your controversial number one hit, _Magnet_."

A second of silence followed and Miku only realized she had to answer the question herself when Luka blinked twice at her. "Much like Miss Megurine, I also finished recording a song less than a few hours ago. However, it is not a single but a collaboration work between me and Gumi." Trying to imitate Luka wasn't easy.

"I see. I am surprised to hear that you address Miss Megurine by her family name. Many fans have been wondering just what exactly the relationship between you two is. Is there truth to the rumor that _Magnet_ is an coming out?"

When Luka didn't answer, Miku started to sweat a little. "While at work, we let our relationship remain completely professional. When not working, we are friends that get along. I respect her as my senior in the business and so I address her in a respectful way."

"That is very traditionally Japanese of you. Now that the the company has acquired Gumi as an additional singer, do you see her as competition?"

"Gumi is a very good friend to me. We both have different styles and voices, so I see no conflicts between her and me at all."

"What do you think about the companies newest acquisition, Miss Megurine?"

"It brings variety to the business. Her voice is not very suitable to work with me myself, but I can see her and Miku work together very well."

"I see that you have established a first name basis with your co-worker. Is this sorely because of the fact that you are the senior songstress?"

"If you are implying that I am calling her by her first name because there is after all some truth to the rumors about _Magnet_ being true then you are mistaken. It is simply because as a co-worker, I see no need for overly polite expressions."

"A very modern and cool decision. Now, many of our male readers have been wondering what your ideal type of a partner would look like."

"Unacceptable question, cut it from the article." Luka's look was hard as steel and the reporter flinched under her hard tone.

"N-Now, our readers would also like to know some of your favorite things. Food, type of book, music and movies."

Looking to Miku, Luka was letting her go first. She remembered already answering these questions in the past.

"I very much enjoy spring onions, raw or cooked. I can eat them to many things as a side dish." Miku had almost let slip out the words _But Luka doesn't like them so I rarely make them for us_. She couldn't let her guard down at all. "I don't have a particularly favorite type of book. As long as the author has worked hard, I will enjoy their work. The music that has brought me here, the music of Megurine Luka, is coincidentally the music I preferably listen to. And I go to the movies so rarely that I don't really have any favorites."

"What about Miss Megurine?"

"I enjoy sushi a lot, particularly chutoro. I don't read very much, at most when I travel, and then I enjoy trashy romance novels. They're easy to read and just as easy to put down when something more interesting shows. I can't quite put a finger on what my favorite music would be, but I often listen to works by Sonika Llyoid. I enjoy action movies very much as they demand my full attention."

Miku was incredibly impressed. If a normal person had listed all those things, they would have to deal with all kinds of insults and negative accusations. But the reporter just nodded and accepted it like nothing. The air of a real star, Miku thought.

"As we are coming to an end, I would like to ask you with whom, regardless of their company affiliation, you would like to do a duet."

"Gakupo Kamui. But only for the benefits of bringing my voice to even more listeners."

"I already got the duet I've wanted with _Magnet_." Miku caused Luka to smile briefly. She was so cute like this.

"The last question: How would you feel about performing _Magnet_ on a live stage?"

"I see no problems with it. We are both professionals, we're not intimidated by the possibility that people might misunderstand acting with reality."

"I feel the same way."

"Thank you very much for this interview." Hitting the stop button, the reporter took a deep breath. "Thank you again. I'll be going now. The article will be published in our next issue."

The reporter was just barely out the door when Miku virtually collapsed into her chair. "I thought my heart was going to give in. How do you stay so calm, Luka?"

"Whatever you tell them barely matters. It's all to appeal to the fans. You can lie straight through your teeth if you want to, but it's easiest to stay consistent and lie a little."

"You're the worst, Luka." Grinning, Miku made a fist and hit her love's shoulder gently. "The absolute worst."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Getting home, Gumi found the lights off and no alluring smell in the air. "Lily?" No answer. Gumi felt very lonely all of a sudden. Working again and really tiring herself out, she was now feeling what a massive hole Sonika had left when she went back to Europe.

Taking off her shoes and going in, she didn't bother to turn on the lights. She realized that inviting Lily, being around Luka and Miku, working hard... none of that could keep her so busy that she wouldn't think of her sister, that she wouldn't miss her.

Reaching the living room, Gumi put down her bag and sat on the couch. She had barely been alone since Sonika left. For the first time in days, there was no one to keep her from thinking about her. And it came all rolling in like a tsunami. The grief, the loss, the regret of not following her, no matter what. If it was so painful to let go, she didn't want to ever let go.

"It hurts... it hurts so much..." Being abandoned, left alone, was the most horrible sensation she had ever felt. Ever since Sonika left, everything had tasted a bit tasteless, every drink had no flavor, the colors of the world were like washed out from the rain, cold and hot were merely trivial detours from normal.

Wrapping her arms around her knees, Gumi put her head against her legs. She could hold it. Not now, when the full realization hit her that Sonika was gone. How many times had she gone through this now? She didn't want to feel like this anymore. If this was the result of loving someone, she could live without the pain! Silent crying to herself, she trembled slightly when memories of the happy moments with Sonika came rushing in. Each and every time she succumbed to wanting to feel that happiness again. Each and every time she gave up on giving up on love because she couldn't give up on her love for Sonika.

She was weak. Gumi thought she was weak and pathetic for not being able to follow Sonika and for not being able to stay away from her. Her indecisiveness only got her hurt again and again. When was she going to grow up, make a stand for herself and make a decision?

Lily was with her and she liked her, but she couldn't think of her as anything but a distraction Miku and Luka had given her to forget about Sonika. She knew the blonde wasn't like that and still she couldn't handle the pain.

Falling to the side, Gumi broke apart, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so stupid... Sonika is my sister... I should have never fallen in love with her... this is all my fault..."

"Even if you're in pain now, you shouldn't regret loving. It is better to love and get hurt than to never love. Your sister must feel about you the same way you feel about her."

"Lily...? You were here?"

"I just got back from buying pizza. I heard you crying and didn't want to startle you."

"Don't I look pathetic right now?"

"I think it's beautiful." Lily was leaned against the backside of the couch, sitting on the ground. "Many people are never able to confront their feelings. Some spend a lifetime never confessing to anyone. Others are unable to accept their own feelings. Then there are those that know and understand their feelings but can't act on them. You found love, you acted on it and you hurt now because of it. There are few people who can show emotion like that."

A bit of silence followed. "I don't think there is anything wrong with loving your sister. Many people are biased because of how society views incest and because there are genetic reasons siblings shouldn't have a child. But society is not who makes you happy or decides what path in life you take, you are. And even if you can't have children, you can still love."

"You're weird..." Gumi's voice was stricken with sadness. She was still crying but not nearly as much as before.

"We're all weird in a way. You're particularly weird because you love your sister. I'm probably even weirder than you because I might love you in the not too far future. Even though I know I'm just here because Luka and Miku wanted me to be."

"How can you be so cheerful all the time if you know all of this?"

"Because I don't fault people for trying to take advantage of what life presents to them. I met you guys and took advantage of that. Now I live with a star. I don't feel guilty about that as all. I'm here now, and you should take advantage of me for all you can."

The room was quiet for a good minute before Lily could hear Gumi get up. Seeing the green haired girl move through the dark apartment, she slowly walked up next to her, sat down and rested her head against Lily's shoulder.

"You should still cry if you're sad. I cry a lot every time I lose friends, even if I didn't know them for very long. Even though there are no tears on my cheeks, I'm crying right now, because one of my friends is really hurting."

"You're so sweet it makes me feel bad..."

Petting Gumi's head, Lily laid an arm around her shoulders, pulling her a little closer. "But even for me, there are things I don't take advantage of."

"Like?"

"My friends. Even though you're so sad and vulnerable right now, there is not a single thought in my head that tells me to make you love me by saying things like _I'll be there for you_ and the likes."

"So cliché..." A tiny smile shooed over Gumi's face.

Sitting there for a few more minutes, Gumi eventually got on he knees and laid her hands on Lily's shoulders, the blonde immediately reaction to that by covering her own mouth with her hand, a sign that she didn't want Gumi to do something in the spur of the moment.

But instead of trying to kiss her on the lips, Gumi kissing Lily's forehead. "Thanks, for being a really great friend." And there was no doubt that she had found a real, true friend in Lily. If after everything she knew, had heard and seen, still stood by her side like this, she could trust her with anything.

"Do you feel better?"

"I feel like shit." Gumi sighed.

"Good. That means you aren't burying your feelings inside. Now lets bury your stomach in pizza." Getting up, Lily pulled Gumi with her.

"You really have the strangest worldview I have ever heard of."

"Makes me unique, right?"

"It makes you a weirdo."

"That's the same thing, Gumi."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Yukari couldn't sleep. Not because it was still stormy outside or because she was still annoyed over Miku but because one of those damn sisters couldn't keep quiet. Getting out of her bag, the air in the room being really cold, Yukari walked over to the left, poking the sleeping bag with her foot twice. "Keep it down with the moaning."

A bunch of red hair popped out of the sleeping bag. "Do it with me."

"No. Now go back to sleep."

Grabbing Yukari by her ankle, the redhead wouldn't let go. "Please!" A loud whisper, she couldn't stand it anymore. "Doing it myself just doesn't work! I haven't had a night of decent sleep in days!"

"What the hell do you normally do?" Trying to get her foot free, Yukari didn't want to get loud and wake the other sister up.

"At the least place I stayed I slept with that college student girl every dew days."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm begging you!"

"No. You're going to make a big deal out of it and ask me to start dating you or something along those lines."

"I won't! I don't even care about dating in general, I just want to be able to get some decent sleep!"

"What about her?"

"I can't do my own sister!"

"Well, I can see why that would turn you off."

"I'd only need you once every three or four days!"

"God, you're annoying. Fine, fine, you can sleep with me. But we're doing it in your bag." Thankfully, they were made for anything but Japanese girls. It was easy for both of them to fit in there.

Crawling into her bag, Yukari could immediately feel how in heat the girl was. Within seconds, the redhead had her arms wrapped around her, their red and purple hair mingling together. "One other favor..."

"What?" Yukari wasn't in the mood to argue endlessly so she just wanted to get over with it.

"Call me Cul."

"Fine, whatever."

Pushing her lips on Yukari's, Cul initiated a powerful kiss that immediately escalated into a competition of whose tongue could overpower the other one. It had been a very long time since Yukari had slept with anyone at all, and she felt almost forgotten pleasures flare back up. Groping the redheads full chest, she felt even a little jealous.

Moaning into the kiss like crazy, Cul slid her hand downward, rapidly starting to take off Yukari's jeans, simply pulling them down far enough to give her room to move. Yukari responded by pulling up Cul's jersey and sliding off her bra, intensely groping her breasts even more now. There was little passion and no love in what they were doing. It was purely to satisfy Cul's physical needs.

Pushing Cul down, Yukari got on top, sliding her tracksuit jacket and the shirt she wore below up before putting her weight on Cul, their now bare breasts touching. Yukari was, despite the lack of emotions, incredibly turned on and her hard nipples pressing against Cul's and her soft breasts only further excited her.

At the opposite side of the table, the blonde, Cul's sister, Mai, who called herself Galaco, was doing her best to keep quiet, biting into the edge of her sleeping bag to stop herself from moaning. Listening to Yukari and her sister have sex was so arousing that she couldn't handle it. Starting to masturbate, she ever so slowly turned around, trying to be invisible.

Finally able to look through the empty space below the table, she saw Yukari dominate her sister, fiery kisses exchanged between them while they rubbed their bodies against each other. Cul was a lot louder than Yukari but whether she was her sister or not, Galaco was incredibly turned on by the sight and the sounds they were making. Putting in a second finger, the blonde bit harder into the bag, drooling over it, her vision getting a little blurry.

At the same time, Cul was almost finished already. She didn't have much in the way of sexual stamina, especially not after having had no sex at all for more than a week. Wrapping her arms and legs around Yukari, Cul forced herself onto the former star, reaching her orgasm just as their lips touched.

Yukari kept going until she reached hers as well, bending over and breathing heavily into Cul's sleeping bag while she came. Breathing heavily and looking at the redhead, she didn't feel anything special. "Done?"

"Thanks..." Letting go of her temporary sex partner, Cul knew that it would be pretty uncomfortable to sleep in her bag that night, but at least she would be able to sleep at all.

Pulling up her clothes the best she could, Yukari got up and back to her own sleeping back. She didn't lose a single word over it.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Gumi was fast asleep on Lily's lap. After eating pizza and watching some TV, the green haired girl had fallen prey to her exhaustion and involuntarily gone to sleep. Letting the movie run it's course, Lily enjoyed the rest of Gumi's beer. As the credits ran, she ran her finger over the neck of the bottle.

She was incredibly sleepy as well and having Gumi lay on her lap wasn't helping. The green haired girl was covered in the blanket from her bed and it also covered Lily's legs and her lap, the warmth making her drowsy.

"I suppose it's okay... to just go to sleep like this..." Lily petted Gumi's head for a bit. "She looks comfortable enough." Putting the bottle of beer on the ground, Lily yawned and leaned against the arm of the couch, resting her head there and closing her eyes. "Oh... the TV..." Half-asleep already, Lily hit the timed shut-off button and put the remote back into the corner of the couch.

Dozing off, Lily petted Gumi's head again. She liked the girl but she wasn't sure she could love her, after all. Seeing how much she loved her sister, she didn't want to step into their world as someone other than a friend. If Gumi wanted her to be something else, she would need to make the first move.

~~~ End of Concert XIII ~~~


	14. Wild and Tame and Miku Hatsune

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XIV**

_Wild and Tame and Miku Hatsune  
_

Her face down on the table, Miku felt something really cold touch her cheek but she was too tired to even look up. "Luka?"

"Just me." Gumi was on break and had seen Miku in the lounge, exhausted, before she went to get a drink from the vending machine. "How are you holding up?" Gumi, like Luka, had experienced workloads like the current one many times before. But for Miku it was her first time of having to deal with so many things.

"I don't know, I feel like I might turn into a zombie. Is Luka still recording?"

"She practicing the choreography for her PV." Gumi kept quiet that Luka had put a big photo of Miku on the wall so she could see her even while she was working.

"Does this happen often? All those new songs, interviews, PV and other things coming at us in one go?" Miku couldn't understand how Luka and Gumi were handling all of it so well.

"Once in a while. You eventually get used to it. We relax a lot and store up energy when we're not working at all, and then we use it all up when this happens." Sitting down, putting her elbows on the table, Gumi rested her head on her hands. "It's hard for you since you still go to school, right?"

"I really want to finish and graduate but if this is what I'll be doing for the majority of my life, and I think I'd like that, I don't think it really matters. I was always a bit ahead of the material and had good grades so even if I don't have time to study at all now, I should still manage tests."

"What is your favorite class?" Opening her can of orange juice, Gumi emptied almost a quarter of it in one go.

Finally raising her head and taking the can that Gumi had put in front of her, Miku felt like going back to sleep definitely. "Makes me wonder if Yukari handled this alright, back then." Noticing Gumi's strange look, Miku realized what she had just said. "Nothing, just my thoughts being a total mess."

The stress was making her say things she shouldn't. Recording, interviews, PV and being on TV... it was worse than any cramming the night before an important exam.

"I need to get back." Gumi's break was only a quick _get a drink and go back_ break after all. "Hang in there, Miku." It was really showing that Miku was still a newbie in the business while Gumi and Luka had long gotten used to the inner workings of the industry.

"I'll try." Hanging in her chair, Miku opened the can. Orange juice wasn't exactly her favorite, but she was still thankful to Gumi. The girl was really considerate.

Looking at the clock, she had ten more minutes before she had a _class_ on choreography. She had never learned how to properly move in front of a camera, and earlier that day during the first practice run of her duet with Luka, the producer had called it on hold until she had taken a few classes. Feeling really inadequate thinking about that, she was more worried about Luka. She had almost taken the head off the producer off with just her look, but eventually she had to agree that Miku lacked proper training.

Feeling something really soft touch the back of her head, this time Miku was sure of who it was. "Here to cheer me up?" Bending backwards, looking up, Miku was quickly kissed.

"That too. I needed to recharge on Miku proximity. After the last two weeks, it's really hard on me barely seeing you for the entire day." Looking down on her darling, Luka had sweat on her forehead, tired from the continuous routine. She might be a star and used to it, but even she required training and practice to get a choreography down.

"Any scientist would cringe in agony after hearing you say that. It's sweet though. Are you gonna ask me how I'm holding up, too?"

"I know how you're doing, love. It's written all over your face." And she had asked the staff working with her but she wouldn't say that. "And I know you can do it. You're my partner, after all."

"Aren't we playing with fire, acting like this in the lounge?" Miku was just a tiny bit worried.

"People around here know not to ask too many questions when it comes to me." Luka grinned, as if it was a medal of honor.

"They're just afraid of walking into a mess too big to get out of." Sitting back up first before getting up, Miku kissed Luka on the cheek. "My break is up. I'll see you later."

"No, my Miku! Don't take it away!" Making a fake scene, Luka could tell that Miku was smiling wide in amusement while she walked away. Sitting on Miku's chair and looking at the can she had left behind, Luka took it. "Indirect kiss, get."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Borderline shouting, music that would deafen a normal person by it's volume, this was her world, her stage, her lair. Standing high on stage, with hundreds of people on the main floor below, Seeu was showing off what she really could do, dancing to the heavy beats of the current song, _The Unforgiven Toxic_, in the currently hottest club in all of Seol, the SheyShay.

Blue neon illuminating the three floors, the base floor in the center, the second floor to the right, reserved for regulars and otherwise more-important-than-normal people, and the top floor, for VIPs, staff and the owner. She belonged to a special group even within the VIPs. After getting popular, she wormed her way into the club, getting acquainted with the owner, receiving special permission to take the center dance stage, a spot that was usually reserved for the best dancer the club had to offer.

To the owner, Seeu was a blessing, her _party hard; crash even harder_ attitude a blessing for the business. Massive cheers echoed through the club when Seeu pulled out her bra from under her tanktop, throwing it high in the air, her breasts now bouncing with every single one of her moves.

The song suddenly lost volume and Seeu glared towards the DJ, who was pointing up and making a fist in quick succession. Putting on the mic, he had an announcement. "We have a challenger for our very own star! Treading lightly, her voice enough to knock you right out of your shoes, here comes the missing link! Ia, Aria of the planetes!"

The mood inside the club almost exploded when from the ground up, a girl with pale blond hair and pink highlights ascended the stairs, looking straight up at her enemy. They had to pretend to go along at work, but **this** stage was different. Wearing purple high heels, a black mini skirt and a purple top, pink studs she was well known at the club, but so far she had never challenged Seeu up on the stage.

"You're going to regret this, bitch. I'll make you look like the bloody amateur you are."

"Do your worst." For Ia, this wasn't about Seeu. This was about achieving what her sister had done, beating the star dancer in the best club. It didn't even matter who she was up against. Seeu or the Antman.

Waving to the crowd, both of them glared at each other. Loosening up a little, Ia stretched her arms and legs. "You're nothing to my sister. You're not even in the same universe of skill or looks." Ia's eyes were looking dangerous again, like those of a hunter. Raising up and clicking her fingers, the first beat of the next song immediately popped in, a track they both knew. _Alpha Blade_.

Sitting in the VIP lounge, enjoying a cocktail, a particularly famous person was enjoying his stay in the club, watching two hotheaded girls battle it out on the main stage. "Who are they?" He was internationally famous but slightly out of touch with what was going on in Korea and Japan at the moment. He was sitting with the owner, an old friend of his.

"They make up one of the top ranked idol units, U-SAY. They're on their way to the top, particularly because they're like that." He knew all about Seeu and Ia, fully aware that they got along as well as fire and oil.

"Which one is which?" He was slightly impressed by the moves of the blonde that had been up there first. He was in town for a concert next week and enjoyed his freedom until then. Ditching his bodyguards and going to a club was his favorite pastime.

"The one that threw out her bra earlier is Seeu, the more impulsive, hotheaded among the two. She's not eighteen yet but always going past whats allowed. That controversial, delinquent nature of hers is what makes her so popular."

"The other one?" He was intrigued. Maybe he would ask them to come up and sit with him later.

"Ia is a bit of a mystery. You never know what she is thinking or planning on doing and there is something really sinister about her sometimes. They have a word for this in your home country. She treats most people like they don't even exist or only exist to serve her. In a way, she is more arrogant than Seeu but not as annoying or loud about it."

"How do people like that end up as idols for the general public? Don't the fans mind that they're doing this?"

"It makes them a hot topic. Of course there are fans that dislike their night behavior, but that is all forgiven when they see their next video. Their appeal is that, while private, they hate each other but act as lovers, very convincingly, on stage. I don't understand the teens of today, really."

Just as he explained it, Ia decided to put the finishing touches on her performance. The song was about to end and Seeu was rather out of breath. Grabbing her hand, she pulled her in, whirled past her, pulled her back and forced a kiss on her, again. Seeu was standing at the very edge of the platform and if Ia was holding her, she would fall.

And that bitch was going to drop her if she bit her, Seeu knew it. Feeling Ia's tongue playing with her own was too much to not get turned on by, whether she liked it or not. The pale blonde only stopped when she felt Seeu's nipples poke through her top. Humiliating the girl was so much fun, she couldn't resist! Stepping back and pulling Seeu with her, the younger girl covered her breasts and sunk to her knees.

With Seeu on the ground, Ia counted herself the victory but it was hard to tell by the crowd's reaction. The cheering and whistling was deafening, even over the loud music. "You don't taste half bad. I might get used to this." Talking to the girl that knelt next to her Ia's eyes were completely serious. She didn't have even a shred of love for the girl, but the taste of her anger was quite good.

Getting down from the stage, Ia was held back by the security guard. "Owner wants to see you." Shrugging, Ia changed course, stopping by the bar. "Martini." Ia was not quite legal drinking age yet, turning nineteen next month but that didn't bother her. The cool demeanor, uncaring attitude and slightly spaced looks gave her enough leeway to pass. Taking her drink to the VIP stairs, security let her through right away, recognizing her from before.

"How can I be of help?" When it wasn't Seeu, who she liked to bully a bit, Ia was very much a nice person that liked to help others.

"This gentleman is an old friend of mine and would like to meet you." Pointing to the purple haired man that sat next to him, the owner got up. "I have business to attend to. I will see you later, Kamui."

"Take your time. I'll be here for the night." Getting up and holding out his hand to Ia, she granted him a handshake. "It's nice to meet one of Seol's up and running idols. I'm-"

"Gakupo Kamui. Anyone in this business would recognize you because of the hair." Ia didn't like him much. He had the same hair color as her sister and his only saving grace was that he was really famous and popular. Otherwise, he would have been a disgrace to her sister.

"Please, sit."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Finally done for the day, Gumi just wanted to throw herself out a window. Used to it or not, at the end of a very long day, all she wanted was a bath, dinner and then sleep. But with friends like these, that was completely impossible. Despite wanting to go home and complaining, Lily had dragged her and Miku, with assistance from Luka, to a Bar & Grill.

"You two will be grateful to us tomorrow morning. We're taking the large buffet and a beer for me."

"Same here." Lily raised her hand slightly. "Gumi?"

"Coke." Now that she was already here, Gumi found it useless to resist.

"Also Coke." Miku wanted something with a bit of caffeine, so she would get through whatever night Luka had planned. "Luka, can't we just go home after this? I'm **really** tired."

"That was the plan. Eating delicious food, enjoying some background chatter at a great avenue and being with friends is the best relaxation there is." Looking to Lily and Gumi, Luka grinned. "So how are things between you two?"

"Luka!" Miku couldn't believe the nerve her partner had.

"Oh come on, Miku. I know you're just as curious as I am and I know that they've gotten closer."

"How did you know?" Lily was slightly confused.

"Gumi smelled like you when she showed up this morning. Not _had sex with you_ you but you two definitely slept right next to each other." Luka almost laughed out loud when Gumi started to smell her clothes and arms.

"I'm going to order dog biscuits for you, McBark. What are you, a drug finding dog?"

"I'd be your puppy any day, Miku." Evading a head slap from her love, Luka reached over the table, towards Gumi, and plucked something out of her hair. "You had super long blonde hair all over you this morning."

"We fell asleep on the couch, watching TV. You're gonna pry until you know anyway, so I'll just tell you what things are like. Gumi is on my radar but I'm not going to lock on." Looking to the green haired girl by her side, Lily grinned. "If she wants to date me, she will have to ask me out."

"A declaration of war! Man the towers, bowmen at the ready!" Looking at Lily for a few seconds, both Luka and her started to laugh out loud at Luka's impression of a general.

Miku, sitting across Gumi, shook her head. "I've been thinking about this, Gumi. It must be our green hair. It's attracting all the weirdos and crazy people. It's a curse. We'll have to deal with these two blockheads for the rest of our lives. Well, at least **I** will have to."

"It's so sad you two can't get married. I'd love to see Luka in a tux." Lily was just joking around but it was fun to do that.

"Why am I wearing the tux?" Luka looked at Miku. "My breasts are bigger than hers, I should be wearing the dress."

"Since they're so small, I assume you won't ever want to touch them again." Peering at her love, Luka sighed. "I'll take the tux."

"She completely has you under her thumb, just like a caring wife." Gumi joined the conversation, imagining them in front of the altar, joking bickering still.

"What about you Lily?" Trying to change the topic, Miku thwarted Luka's attempt.

"I wouldn't mind marrying Luka if I could. Not now, though. Maybe in a few years, when the age gap has become meaningless and I settled into this line of work." Miku received awkward and impressed silence by her words. "What? I'm not just saying that."

Blushing, Luka hugged her partner, kissing her on the cheek. "That actually means a lot to me. Thanks."

"Stop it, it's embarrassing if you make a big thing out of it!" Miku blushed too, now.

"I've been around a lot and saw a lot of couples. Straight, lesbians, gay, all kinds. Some I'd rather not remember, too. But you two make definitely the cutest." Looking at Luka, Lily sighed. "Not the most fun, sadly, that goes to two of my old friends. But they were really good for nothing but having fun. You couldn't really count on them when you needed to. I know that's different with you."

Just as the situation turned back to funny, their drinks came. "Come to think of it, are you even legal drinking age yet, Lily?" Luka was eying the blonde over her glass.

"Never stopped me before. I look older than I am, although in a few years, I'm going to be complaining about that." Laughing and gulping down part of her beer, Lily felt refreshed. "I was going through furniture catalogs the entire day. I slept like a rock last night, but I can't have Gumi sleep with me on the couch all the time."

"I didn't mind at all. Sleeping on your lap was really calming." Noticing the big grin on Luka's face and her eyes, Gumi turned fiery red. "I was just sleeping! Geez, you're such a lecherous woman, Luka!" Acting out, the other three started laughing, while Gumi focused on her drink.

"So how is work going for you three?" A loud thud caught Lily's attention. Miku had put her arms and head on the table, suddenly feeling extremely tired. "That harsh?"

"I feel bad about delaying the band activities for so long but I don't think we can handle any other work until we're finished with our workload. If we finish early, we'll have two weeks off. If we finish just barely in time, it'll be ten days. Either way, we should have a good week to practice every day for a few hours.

"Don't worry about it. For the time being, I'll go flip burgers or something easy to get. You know I'm not above that."

"Just don't feel bad if we three are going to pay for the food. Well, most likely I will, because I make the most and I can afford to take my best friends and partner out for dinner. I called you to come over and drag Gumi with you, too."

"I know when I'm supposed to just appreciate others hospitality, don't worry. Considering it's still raining buckets outside, speaking of which, how long is that gonna keep going? Don't we need a big ark that carries two of each species?"

"Good thing Luka is an alien so I can take her with me as the human representative." Miku took a jab at her partner, who acted all shocked.

"I have to look after my favorite puny human after all."

"What was I saying?" Lily had forgotten.

"The rain. We made it in here in one piece and dry because you brought that... thing." Gumi hadn't felt very embarrassed using it, but she sure had felt stupid.

"The Umbrella Ball?" Lily had, on Luka's orders earlier that day, bought a dozen umbrellas of the same type and proceeded to build what was called an Umbrella Ball. It offered complete protection against the rain from any side, was of variable size and could be held by one or two people at the same time. Only the feet still got very wet. It was so rainproof that people only saw a massive clutter of umbrellas, all stitched together, when they came past it. The main problem was storing it, but due to Luka's nice asking, they were allowed to store it in the back for a small fee.

"It's the best one I made yet! Just look how wet and miserable the other people in here are! We're the only ones that are dry!" Lily was incredibly proud of it.

"It's a nightmare to store though, because you can't actually fold it in." Miku was grateful that she could stay dry but she wasn't really sure that a monstrosity like that had any real use beside extreme situations like now.

"Oh you can. I was wondering why none of you tried to do that when Luka asked where we could store it." Lily was slightly confused they hadn't figured that out. "You just have to close them all at the same time. It's a bit hard but definitely works."

"You should have told us that sooner!" All three of them rolled eyes to varying degrees.

"Ooops, my bad! Tee-hee!" Pretending to be an air-head and making the incredibly generic fist to her head gesture, Lily earned even more drastic reactions before they all laughed.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

After their little affair the night before, Cul was having trouble looking at Yukari. She didn't suddenly fall in love with her or anything but she was embarrassed. Her needs had overcome her pride and she had **begged** Yukari to sleep with her.

And by the looks her sister was giving her, the redhead could tell that she knew about it. But she didn't exactly have a lot of other options. Doing her sister was disgusting just to think about. And whoring herself out on the street... she didn't find that any less disgusting than having sex with Galaco.

"Stop looking like a camel that lost one of it's humps. Or am I so ugly that you're disgusted you slept with me?" Yukari didn't need to look up from the book she was reading to know the face Cul was making. Books were surprisingly easy to come by. Bookstores tended to throw away slightly damaged copies and if one was to be in the right place at the right time, they could pick up those damaged copies. The book she was reading, a war tragedy, had a ripped cover. That was all that was wrong with it.

"I never had to **beg** someone, okay?" Cul hated begging. Her pride was wounded and she needed to rectify that. One solution would be to make Yukari want to sleep with her, but she figured that that was pretty much impossible like this. Another solution she couldn't think of yet.

"You're good looking, you could probably find someone pretty easily if you looked."

"She never had trouble sleeping around." Galaco landed a real low blow, jealous that Cul had gotten to sleep with Yukari. She wondered what it must be like to be with an older and probably really experienced girl.

"You're one to talk, little miss flash-your-tits. If I had 100 yen for every time you flashed your boobs at a concert, I'd have enough to buy a mansion."

"At least **I'm** not a sex addict. I'm still pure."

"**Pure**." Saying the word with utmost sarcasm, Cul wanted to spit. "Being awkward during sex and sucking, figure of speech, at making your partner feel good sure are great qualities."

"Will both of you shut up? You, if you want someone to sleep with you, I know a hotel where they're looking for stuff like that. The pay is good but you'll serve what you get." Looking up and at Galaco, Yukari's eyes narrowed slightly. "And you, if you're so preoccupied with your physical state, you might wanna go and run back home, because when living on the streets, being **pure** is the least of your concerns."

Getting scolded, both sisters went quiet, Cul laying down and grumbling, Galaco picking up a novel of her own.

"What happened to you finding your sister anyway?" Yukari preferred to live alone. Less mouths to feed and less annoyances. She very much preferred to stick to herself.

"We can't show ourselves in front of her like this." Cul's pride got in the way again. "Even if we knew where she is. This town has millions of people living in it, right? She could be anywhere!"

"Are you just planning to stay here until kingdom come? If you can't show yourself like this, go home. You just ran away, it's not like you can't go back."

"I'd rather stay here forever than go back home." Cul's tone of voice changed so drastically that Yukari looked up. There was hatred oozing from her voice.

"Why do I know I'll regret asking later?" Shrugging, Yukari couldn't help herself. "What's the problem? Your parents beating you?"

"That would mean they actually give a shit." Galaco answered for her sister. "They had three girls and the first set out without as much as a word. Then Cul went away and they still didn't care. When I left, I saw them browsing for a new home, since they don't need that big house with their kids gone."

"Those are some pretty damn shitty parents. Why did your sister leave you with them?"

"We're not actually... going along that well with Lily. She doesn't hate us, but she wants her own life, away from her family." Cul knew Lily a bit better than Galaco did.

"So why are you looking for her?"

"We said some pretty horrible things to her before she left. I want to... set things straight." Galaco felt guilty about that. The fight had been so bad that Lily told them to never show their faces in front of her again.

"That's all? Don't you have her cellphone number? You can call her from a pay phone." Yukari didn't quite get what the big deal was.

"She constantly lost her cellphone. I tried her number over a hundred times before we went after her." Cul sighed. "I'm still hoping she does what she always does. Join a band, get some gigs, run into trouble, repeat. That way, we'll run into her sooner or later."

"Unless she leaves town. What makes you think she is even still here?"

"This town is the place she always wanted to live in. She is certifiably crazy about it." Cul didn't doubt that Lily would, if she could, stay here for the rest of her life.

"Good luck finding her. I'm willing to let you two stay as long as you make yourself useful and don't bother me too much but I'm not going out on a wild goose chase for some girl." Yukari just wanted to be left in peace.

"We get it, we get it." Cul didn't like her attitude but she was grateful enough. A teenage that had no real talents, didn't even graduate from high school... what choice but to rely on people like Yukari did she have? Galaco was in the same boat.

"I hope the rain stops soon. I'm going to be depressed one of these days because of it."

Both Cul and Galaco thought the same thing. **That** wasn't depressed already?!

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"You did **what**?" Miku, eventually ordering a few beer with Luka, was just a little tipsy, barely enough to laugh a bit louder than normally.

"It was hellish cold. None of us had actually tested the water before, and because we went over the fence, we are pretty hot and sweating, too. So when we all jumped, our combined shrieking because of the cold lake water woke up the guard, who was horrified to find that he had to chase a dozen naked girls off the property." Noticing that Gumi was getting up, Lily looked at her. "Toilet?"

Nodding, Gumi left the table, heading to the back. Miku caught up with her a few seconds later. "I'm not that drunk, Miku." Smiling wide, Gumi noticed that Miku was very much in a hurry. "Oh." Chuckling, she let her friend go ahead, not having to go that urgently herself.

By the time Gumi was almost done washing her hands, Miku joined her again, looking a lot calmer than before. "The beer, isn't it?"

"Second time I had to go and we've only been here for..." Taking out her cellphone, Miku was surprised to see that it was much later than she expected. "Okay, maybe we **have** been here for two and a half hours already."

"Do you think they would listen if I told them I want to go home? It'll be past ten when we get back."

"They're a rowdy pair but they definitely listen to us when we're being serious. Lily seems to be a lot like Luka in that aspect." Finishing washing her hands, Miku took the paper towel Gumi was holding for her. "Thanks." Looking at Gumi, Miku did want to know after all. "I'm not going to talk to Luka about it, so you can talk to me. Is everything okay? I haven't known you for that long, but I could see how much you loved your sister. Are you doing alright, emotionally?"

"Lily already helped me get over it. Not the way you think. She talked to me and said some really great things. I was a bit worried because Luka and you obviously tried to make me like her **that** way."

"Luka might have been pushing for that a little but she isn't giving Lily suggestions or anything. When she thought about Lily and you being an item, she did mean well."

"I know that." Smiling, Gumi looked at her co-worker and nodded twice. "Luka is a really nice person when you get to know her. She can be a bit of a dervish at times, but that isn't anything I dislike, really."

"If Luka knew you said that, she'd be out of control, singing and dancing on the table. In one of those Hawaii straw skirts." Watching Gumi break out in laughter, the spring onion lover left, slowly pulling Gumi with her. Checking her table, Luka was talking to a waitress. She hoped she wasn't ordering more food.

Getting back and sitting down, Miku found Luka searching for her wallet. "Right back pocket." She knew exactly where Luka kept her stuff.

"Thanks." Smiling and quickly kissing Miku on the cheek, Luka counted her money. "Miku."

"How much are you short?" Taking out her own wallet from her handbag, Miku just grinned.

"Two hundred yen."

"I should just let you wash dishes for so little." Handing over two coins, Miku stretched a little, yawning in the process. It was high time they went home. If it had been a normal day of relaxing, the night would've been young still and a club visit would be up next, but alas it wasn't.

"How did you know we wanted to go?" Gumi was a little curious.

"Reading the mood. A few minutes ago, Gumi almost dozed off once. Maybe fifteen or twenty minutes ago, Miku yawned hard." Luka, explaining how observing she was, paid for their meal and held her wallet upside down. "A fly should come out."

"You want to be a comic book character, Luka?" Lily was the most energetic out of the four, with Luka just a bit behind her.

"They made that offer twice in the past. Both scenarios had me doing things I really didn't like so I had my agent reject the idea."

"I don't think I could live on if Luka was a manga protagonist." Miku shook her head, shuddering at the idea of that. "Even worse, they could make it into an anime. That would take her away constantly for voice acting stuff. No, no, no, no." Clinging to Luka's arm while they headed towards the back door to get their Umbrella Ball, Miku enjoyed being a bit tipsy.

"Let's go home then. I feel so silly with this thing."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Laying on her couch, Ia woke with a headache that was looking for one's own kind. Looking around, the room immediately started turning. Pictures of her sister where everywhere and a video of her was stuck on pause on the big projector screen. And something smelled so absurdly sweet that it was a bit sickening. And on top of all that, she found herself completely naked.

Trying to get her senses in order, Ia forced herself up, leaning against the back of her couch, Ia tried to remember how she even got home. She was at the club, making fun of poor little Seeu and... what happened next?

Getting up, staggering, she still couldn't see clearly. That didn't feel like just being drunk. Holding her head, she felt like throwing up and there was a salty taste in her mouth already. "Did I get drugged?" Talking was painful, her throat was completely hoarse.

Taking a few steps, she stumbled over something big, falling and crashing onto the ground. Looking what she had fallen over, she groaned in pain, not because her head hurt but because of what she saw. A blonde girl, naked, was laying on her side, snoring very quietly. "Oh god... I can't seriously have... did I...?" A few very bad scenarios went through her head.

What had led to Seeu, that stupid girl she was always bullying, being in her apartment, **naked**, and sleeping on the floor. At least she wasn't dead. That would've been really bad. No matter how much she bullied the girl, she didn't want her dead. Unless she would insult her sister. Death was justifiable punishment for that.

Getting up and looking for clothes, she didn't see any in her living room. Staggering to the floor, she found panties that didn't belong to her, black lace, something very fancy. She doubted that girl had ever actually seduced someone.

Close to her door were several pieces of clothing, most of which her own. Getting into the bathroom, she hung herself under the tap, drinking as much water as she could handle. Looking into the mirror, Ia started to feel sick. Her face, neck, shoulders, arms... there was lipstick everywhere. She didn't doubt for a second that the lips it came from belonged to Seeu. Touching her crotch, she wasn't wet anymore, assuming she had fucked the girl in some way, so some time must have passed. Looking at the clock, it was four in the morning, too early to wake up, too late to go sleep.

Her eyes were slightly blood-shot, at least from what she could make out and her fingers and legs didn't quite obey her the way she was used to. Sitting on top of the toilet, Ia tried to recall what else had happened after she bullied Seeu. She... went down and then... someone... the owner... wanted to see her?

Remembering the owner made her remember the purple haired man. And from there, the memories vaguely came back. She got talking with the internationally known star and eventually, Seeu showed up as well, both of them hissing at each other whenever they got the chance.

And then, Ia realized what had happened. The purple man had ordered two drinks prior to Ia's arrival, supposedly, and handed one of the drinks to each girl. She was now sure she had been drugged. Proving it was a waste of time. Considering how hard Seeu and she partied, nobody would believe someone slipped them a little extra.

No matter how hard she tried, there was not even a blur of what happened. Hopefully Seeu had some kind of memory of it. Supporting herself against the wall, like someone who was wounded, Ia made it to her bedroom, getting some simple clothes and putting them on.

What was she gonna do about the girl in her living room? She could just leave her on the floor, but there were much funnier options available to her. If she had already gotten herself knee deep into shit, she might as well have some fun with it before it all went to hell for good.

Sitting on her bed for a while, trying to get her vision to clear up, Ia started to feel awfully hungry after a few minutes. Dragging herself into the kitchen, Ia opened her fridge and found her bra inside. Deciding now to think about it, she grabbed a pack of cheese slices and started eating them without anything else whatsoever. It was filling, didn't require any preparation and as long as it was eaten in moderation, it was also tasty.

With something in her stomach that wasn't alcohol and god knows what drugs, Ia felt a lot better. Finally capable of walking without the need for support, she went back into her living room. A lamp was knocked over, Seeu smelled like a goddamn candy factory and the projector had been running non-stop, probably costing a fortune in electricity. Turning the projector off and grabbing Seeu by her ankles, Ia started to pull her away. She didn't care enough to actually lift her up until pulling her around the corner was becoming a massive hassle. Carrying her piggyback into her bedroom, Ia almost threw her onto the bed. "If there is no idiom that says stupid people sleep sound, there should be."

She was a little disgusted with the idea of sleeping next to Seeu, but the reward would be worth it. Completely. If she played her cards right, she could have a **lot** of fun with this until she went to Japan. After that, she couldn't care less about Seeu, Korea, the universe or anything else, all that mattered was Yukari.

Stripping again and leaving the clothes randomly on the floor, Ia sneaked under the blanket. In her opinion, Seeu was much more tolerable when she was asleep. She was almost like a heavily retarded skunk that way. Still extremely distasteful to have around but somewhat bearable when it didn't spray it's scent everywhere.

Before she laid down, Ia bend over Seeu, kissing the side of her neck and sucking really hard for several seconds, leaving a really big hickey behind. Unless she wore a really big scarf, people would see it. And it would be incredibly embarrassing for her.

Relishing in the small time torture, Ia tried to go back to sleep but Seeu's quiet, but present, snoring kept her awake for a good ten minutes longer than she had expected. Eventually dozing off, Ia rolled over in her sleep and grabbed the blonde next to her, holding her just like a lover.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Waking up very early, six in the morning, Lily peeled herself out of her blanket on the couch, putting it over Gumi, who had fallen asleep next to her. She hadn't even noticed that the green haired girl had joined her, and she didn't know when she had come out of her room, but Lily was slightly touched. Thanks to that, she had slept like a rock.

Covering Gumi with the blanket, convinced that she couldn't pull off the mythical act of carrying the girl to her bed without waking her, Lily packed her few belongings before taking the duty of morning hygiene. Brushing and looking into the mirror, she had a random thought. "I'm sure Luka and Miku switch their brushes all the time." Amused by that idea, Lily finished up and grabbed the backpack that contained a change of clothes, placed a small note on the living room table and vanished out the door. It was incredibly cold outside for the that time of the year but at least the rain had finally stopped. The was still cloudy but it looked like the worst was over.

Going down the stairs, she stopped at the bottom and looked up, wondering if Gumi would be alright, waking up on her own and getting to work. Ignoring her worries and taking a few steps down the street, she stopped again. Did she actually get everything? Going through a small but important list in her head, she rummaged through her backpack, finding everything she had listed. Stretching, she pulled out a local map, ready to be on her way.

"That way." Getting across the street, Lily didn't notice that someone was watching her. A particularly interested redhead had just walked out the door was Lily went through her backpack. Seeing her, she thought she was still dreaming. But it really was **her**.

Running down the stairs, Cul tried to make out where Lily had gone but couldn't spot her anywhere. There were over a dozen possible paths she could have taken and her sister was not exactly the best at navigating her way around.

Cursing, she didn't want to look stupid and shout. But at least she knew that her sister was **somewhere** in the town, likely looking for a place to stay. Or work. Or something really weird that she didn't really want to contemplate after knowing her for all these years.

Returning to her room, Cul found Galaco still asleep. It didn't really matter **when** she told younger sister where the older one was. Or rather, that she had seen her. Yukari was still asleep as well, and Cul felt a slight tingle when she looked at her. Shaking her head powerfully, Cul tried to get that idea out of her head. Absolutely fucking not could she develop any kind of attraction to her, purely sexual or not!

About an hour and a half later, Gumi rolled off the couch, waking up to the sound of birds chirping outside. "Lily...?" Looking around, she couldn't see her anywhere. Noticing the note on the table, Gumi smiled. "Don't look for me!... She says." She knew exactly where Lily had gone. Maybe she didn't remember saying it after all they had talked about, but the evening before she had told everyone that she wouldn't come back until she found a part-time job.

Turning the note around, there was something else written on it. "Just kidding! I'll be back in the evening, so do your best at work! Laters! Lily." Shaking her head and smiling even wider, Gumi threw the note back on the table. "I think I understand how Miku feels like sometimes."

Said girl, and her partner, were in immeasurable distress. "Did you find them?" Luka looking through all the piles of somethings on the floor, causing an even more massive chaos than their apartment normally had present.

"Not under the bed! Where did you put them Luka? I remember putting mine into the bowl on the heater!" Miku was completely under the bed, like a monster from a kid's horror story. "Help!"

Running into the bedroom, Luka found her partner sort of immobilized under the bed, unable to get out on her own. She would have used the chance to peek at Miku's panties, under her skirt, but she knew they didn't have time. Grabbing her leg and pulled her out, Miku had a bit of dust covering her hair.

Jumping up and going into the kitchen, Luka continued her search for a few seconds while Miku freed herself from the dust. A scream, something very unnatural for Luka, alarmed Miku, causing her to rush into the kitchen. Luka stood in shock, holding a pack of cereal. "Take... it... away... throw it... away..." Her voice was just a flimsy echo of what was normally like.

Looking inside, Miku shook her head several times, breaking all guiness world records in doing so and stepped back. "No, no, no, no, no! You buy those, you throw it!"

"Miku... please..." Almost whimpering, Luka was holding the back with just her thumb and index finger at the very top. A bestial flavor was coming out of it. The green haired girl opened the closet, took out a fresh trash bag, opened it up and held it out towards Luka, averting her eyes and closing them.

With a rustling thud, the bag landed inside the trash bag, immediately causing a green cloud to rise from it. Making a knot into the top so fast that Luka could hardly follow her hand movements, Miku was out of breath. "That's why I tell you not to put these into the back of the shelf!"

"I didn't think it would turn into the leftovers of an Alien from Mars!" Luka couldn't handle moldy food. It was incredibly disgusting, extremely bad for her health and... and... she just couldn't handle it. For the better or the worse, Miku shared that disposition very much, making it a spectacle to behold every time they found something moldy.

"Why did you even check **the cereal**?" Miku didn't understand the logic behind that. Putting the trash in a corner, opting to take it back down when they left, **if** they would leave at all, and restarting her search, Miku waited for an answer.

"I sometimes wake up late at night and get hungry. Cereal is always ready, easy and quick to eat, not bad for my body and very **quiet** to eat. I picked up on that since you started sleeping with me."

Miku found it very sweet that Luka was taking that into account. "Don't you mean sleeping at your place?"

"No, I meant when we first started having sex. I wanted to be prepared for the stage when you sleep at my place."

"I don't know if that's sweet or ridiculously arrogant."

"Let's go with sweet." Luka laughed after saying so. "I can't find them in the kitchen!"

"I found mine! But I have no idea where yours are!" Shouting from the bathroom, Miku had found her keys **inside** her toothbrush cup. How they had gotten there was anyone's guess.

"Yours will have to do. We can look for mine when we get back."

"We're going to be late if we don't take your car."

"Then we're going to be late. I can't take my car with half the streets still being part of Water World." Luka headed to the door and put on her shoes. Wearing a long black sleeve shirt and jeans, she wasn't exactly the cutting edge of fashion but it had to do.

"Stop!" Holding Luka back, Miku suddenly pulled up her shirt.

"Miku, you know I'm always up for crazy ideas, but this time we really should get going and why are you undoing my bra?" Luka didn't even blush but simply stood there, arms up.

"It was twisted, I could see it through the back of your shirt. That would've hurt a load after a few hours." Connecting the hooks, Miku left Luka to do the rest herself. "Come on, stop gaping." Taking her own shoes, simple pink pumps, Miku wore black leggings, a turquoise sweater and a matching mini skirt.

"They're going to have our head." Luka laughed, knowing that she wouldn't be laughing when they showed up late.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Her head hurt so much, she felt like several heroes were fighting several demon lords all at once inside. She had no idea what was going on. Someone was holding her and she smelled a bit like blackberry, a very unique scent. And also a pretty obscene one. Her mouth was so dry that just parting her lips hurt like crazy. There was so much sand in her eyes that she felt like a desert traveler. Turning over, Seeu realized that the edge of the bed, at least it was a bed, was right there. Opening her eyes, she saw a closet she wasn't familiar with.

"Princess finally decided to wake up?" Sitting in bed, Ia had gotten bored of waiting, reading a novel, stark naked, wearing reading glasses. She would have lit up a cigarette if she had some at home, but since she didn't smoke, she had none.

"I'm gonna puke."

"Bucket's next to the bed." Anticipating a reaction like that, just in case, Yukari had prepared **measures**.

Head just barely over the edge of the bed, Seeu emptied her stomach of anything that remained from last night. The smell was indescribable. She had woken up in the only place that was worse than purgatory **and** hell put together.

"Why... are you here..." Looking back at the other girl, Seeu didn't need to really think about why that beast was in the same bed as her, naked, just like she was. The one and only saving grace was that she was a girl. Getting pregnant on top of this would've been justifiable cause to jump out the next best window.

"My apartment, my bed. Why are you so surprised to wake up next to, I'm quoting what you said last night, your darling?" Ia was lying straight through her teeth and Seeu's reaction was positively hilarious. The horror that was written all over her face was amazing to behold.

"Liar."

"Now that hurts. After telling me how much you actually love me last night. I was willing to let bygones by bygones." Pulling a face, Ia was so incredibly happy she was a good actress.

"I don't believe you. Admit it, you got me drunk, forcefully abducted me, raped me and now you're lying to me!" Seeu couldn't believe a single word that venomous snake was saying. There had to be some kind of explanation. She could tell she did have sex with someone last night, and there was likely little way around that being Ia, but she still couldn't possibly admit that.

"If you'd like, we can check my surveillance footage. I had that installed in case one of those disgusting stalkers followed me home." She was taking a gamble. Ia didn't know what happened that night either, and she only hoped that the footage was actually beneficial to her.

Unsure if she wanted to take the gamble, Seeu knew she wouldn't be able to ever outlive the shame if what that snake was saying was actually true. "Show me." Seeu stared when Ia simply got up, naked, and casually started to dress.

"What? We fucked like rabbits last night, don't act all prude when seeing me naked now."

"You ever say anything about my choice of words again, you bitch." Feeling sick again, Seeu realized that she had slept with a **Japanese** girl. She wouldn't mind quite as much, but still a whole lot, if Ia had actually been a Korean girl.

"Where are my clothes?"

"Probably somewhere on the floor. Go look for them. If you're acting like this, I'm not going to get you anything."

"Fuck you." Getting out of bed and walking around naked, her face fiery red in shame, Seeu wasn't quite able to walk in a straight line. "Dammit... how much did I drink?" Picking up a tanktop she recognized, Seeu put it on, knowing she wouldn't find any bra.

Ia, in the meantime, headed to end of the living room, where a single cord went from her computer into the ceiling, connecting to three cameras. One covering the entrance, one covering the living room and one covering the balcony beyond the living room. It was a very western styled apartment, all in all.

A half-dressed Seeu eventually appeared, looking like someone had just raped her and left her half naked. It looked so pathetic that Ia could hardly hold in her laughter. It was going a lot better than planned. Accessing the footage from last night, she fast forwarded after the time stamp hit six in the evening. There was nothing until twelve-thirty. Ia's heart was racing a little, too, not knowing what exactly would show.

But the moment the door opened, Ia knew she had won. Completely over each other, the image showed Seeu and Ia, wildly kissing and making out, Seeu's hand somewhere under Ia's top. Pausing the video, Ia zoomed in, getting a good look on the faces. Both of them were looking at each other, as if their eyes were glued together, like animals in heat.

Fast forwarding briefly there was nothing else in the video from the entrance camera. Starting the living room one and skipping to twelve thirty, Ia was treated to what easily passed as a pornographic video. Seeu was first to be completely naked and let Ia readily push her on the couch. "Wanna see the rest?"

Turning around, she saw Seeu in tears of raging anger. Turning around and running back into the bedroom, Seeu had to vomit again, some pitiful leftovers from before coming out. Ia hadn't expected such great success. Now she had to check how much more fun she could get out of this.

Going into the bedroom, Ia sat on the bed next to Seeu, petting her back. "Oh come on, at least you didn't bang some random person on the street and got knocked up. Imagine if the paparazzi had made photos of that." Ia would have played with the idea of leaking the videos if she wasn't in them, too.

"Shut up already. And don't touch me!" Still crying, Seeu didn't know what she was supposed to do. The videos clearly showed that she threw herself at Ia more than willingly. Should she just kill herself now and get it over with? "I should just kill myself."

Seeu was hit so hard that she fell over, her jaw in a world of pain. Ia was right above her, glaring at her with eyes of pure contempt. "Say that again and **I** will kill you." There was no doubt that she was completely serious about that.

The blonde was scared of Ia at that moment. Even if she had been intimidated by her before, she had never been truly **scared** of her. Why did saying that set her off like that? Looking down, Seeu calmed down a little. "What is wrong with you? Did someone try to kill themselves in your family?"

"My sister tried when she couldn't handle the stress my good for nothing parents forced on her. She almost died." Her eyes were still full of anger. "Get dressed, I'm going out and not leaving you alone in my apartment." She wasn't having fun anymore. Not only did she unintentionally turn into what she despised most, her parents, but she knew that there would be extremely serious repercussions if Seeu did kill herself.

"Dressed with **what**? I can't find half my stuff!"

"Just take something from me then! I don't care! You saw what went down in the living room, do you really think it matters if you wear my clothes?" Ia was getting pissed for different reasons altogether now. She hadn't planned that she could end up having to get out of the situation in some way.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Nodding, and nodding again, Luka looked over her shoulder. "Yeah. Okay, but don't let her catch you. I told her I lost my keys. The goods are inside my pillow. Hm, what? Which one is mine? Just check the one that smells like me. What do you mean, you can't tell them apart? Just check them both. Okay. Yes. Okay. See ya." Hanging up, Luka quickly looked in both directions.

Hearing steps, she faked drinking from a can of apple juice. Seeing that it was Gumi, she relaxed. "Looking forward to later?"

"I hope Miku doesn't faint. You're really going all out with this." Gumi was obviously in on the plan, having received a text message from Luka on her way to work. "I didn't even know that Miku's birthday was **today**! She never said anything."

"You turn eighteen only once. Its the legal drinking age in many countries in the west and also the point where you're considered an adult. And you know what Miku is like. She's been a bit... stingy with money for a long time so she probably never really got a big party before."

"Was it really necessary to have Lily go into your place and steal your present? You hid it so she wouldn't find it, right? Why not get it yourself?"

"I just couldn't find a chance to put it into my bag this morning, Miku was constantly scurrying around, unpredictable to the max. Lily said it's completely fine, she was going back to change clothes anyway."

"She needs to go out and buy some for herself. I'll give her some money, she's stretching out my clothes."

"In the chest region?"

"No!" Turning a bit red, Gumi responded with a bit more certainty than she wanted to let on. "I need to get back to recording, I was only supposed to use the toilet." Sighing, Gumi didn't feel so good about the song she was doing at the time. "I should have picked something that cheers me up instead of making me depressed..."

"Hang in there, Gumi." Waving, Luka looked at the clock. She didn't manage to get the reservation for the restaurant, but given everyone she was inviting, that might have been a bit too high class anyway. Dialing the next number, Luka went back on the phone. "Hey, is this Kaito's number?" A woman had answered.

While Luka was handling calls, Gumi was back at work and struggling with it. The lyrics were in English and the mood of the song was very much depressing and sad. The title was _I (Love)_, as if it was a message to her sister. That was **why** she had picked the song, but she didn't expect it to be that difficult. Standing in front of the microphone, Gumi started from the top.

"_I know the cryptic way she hides it – I see how she fakes her attention – I tried to understand everything – But I guess I'm just a hopeful fool..._" Singing those lyrics made her feel like she was yelling, shouting at Sonika despite the gentleness of her tone. She felt betrayed and hurt that Sonika had left things as they are now. She had the feeling that she was also in on Luka's plan. "_To her I'm nothing, We weren't anything, Just a basic test, An experiment, I know it's pointless, I know it's worthless, But I won't give up, I won't surrender._"

Waving her hand, Gumi couldn't handle going on. Taking a few deep breaths, she felt tears coming up. Taking one particularly deep breath, she thought of her talk with Lily. The blonde was right, being sad over what had happened wasn't something she should fight. Embracing the feeling, Gumi let it run from the top, this time simply letting the sadness show on her face. Even though a tear ran down her cheek, her voice didn't change. "_I – won't – let – you leave me behind alone, I'll – find – you – and then you will love me, I – won't – let – you to this to yourself, I'll – find – you we're perfect together."_ A declaration of war to her sister. She wasn't the little sister that would just sit and wait patiently anymore. If Sonika didn't come to her out of her own free will, she would **make her**.

"_I don't get why she's not listening, I am fighting an abandoned war, I tried to show her how I feel, but I guess I'm just a hopeless fool. To her I'm nothing, We weren't anything, Just a basic test, An experiment, I know it's pointless, I know it's worthless, But I won't give up, I won't surrender."_ A repeat of the earlier lines followed and Gumi felt tears running down her cheeks. "_You will see, It will finally, Be just you and me, Till the end of the world, I want you, I deeply need you, I won't forget you, You're my sanctuary."_ And the lyrics repeated itself. Singing about being in despair and not giving up on her love, Gumi wondered what her sister would think when she heard the song.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Gumi felt a lot better now that she had that out of her system. Looking with eager eyes to the people behind the big glass screen, they shook their head. "You were off-tone a few times at the end. Are you okay? You've been crying."

Letting her head hang, Gumi left the room. "Give me ten." Apparently, singing while crying wasn't that easy after all.

Going back into the lobby, she was witnessing a bizarre sight. Handling two cellphones **at the same time**, Luka was talking so fast that Gumi thought she was practicing for a new kind of crazy song. Ending both calls at the same time, the songstress fell back into a chair. "And I thought **singing** was exhausting." Taking a quick look at Gumi, Luka instantly changed modes. "Hey, whats wrong?" Walking over to Gumi, the green haired girl looked awfully surprised and confused. "You're crying."

"Stupid song is a heart breaker." Rubbing her eyes, Gumi smiled. "I'm just really easily swayed by what I sing."

"Just don't let Lily see you like this. She doesn't look like it, but I think she would worry. You **are** coming to the party later, right?"

"I wouldn't miss that for the world. Even if my sister showed up to see me, I'd take her there. I'm not that horrible a friend that I won't come."

"Come where?" Miku had just come across the corner, seeing Luka and Gumi in a very compromising situation. The green haired girl with red eyes and tear stains on her cheeks and Luka looking all worried, holding her by her shoulders. "I know there is an explanation for this, I just don't quite know if I will accept it without throwing cans of juice."

"Gumi's new song has her in tears. I got worried. Please don't assault us?" Luka grinned wide, hastily ducking from nothing.

"Happy go lucky and cheery songs are more your things, Gumi." Walking up to the two, Miku gave Luka a curious look. "What were you talking about before? Are we planning on going somewhere again today?" Miku wasn't completely against it but she would need to take one or two nights off, soon, to study for upcoming tests. And she had to go back to school. Her attendance had plummeted thanks to her job.

"I was thinking about it and wondering if Gumi would come. We haven't really decided where to go yet." Luka was a great liar. But not great enough.

"That's a really shady excuse. If you're going as far as putting on your best pokerface, I suppose I can just wait. Just don't take us somewhere weird." Smiling, Miku extremely slowly walked past Luka, playing with her fingers for a moment before heading towards the vending machine.

Giving Gumi a relieved look, Luka sneaked away. She still had work to do herself, even though she had taken care of most of the things for Miku's party.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Where are we going?" Miku had never been to this part of the town. She was a little worried that Luka was taking her to a very questionable place.

"Not going, went. We're here." Turning about and facing the door to a bar called Yamaha, Luka held the door open, the inside very dark and gloomy. "After you, my dear."

Sighing, not expecting much, Miku stepped inside and was blinded by several big lamps being turned on all at once. "Surprise!" She was almost deafened by the volume of it. Surprise? Was there some... thing...

Standing there with her mouth open, Miku realized only now that it was her birthday. She had turned eighteen today. Looking around, the, from the outside gloomy and shoddy looking, bar was festive, decorations hanging from the walls and the ceiling, tables filled with an assortment of cakes, drinks and snacks. In the back was a burly bald man, the barkeep as it looked, waving to her over the counter, over which was an almost massive banner that spelled out **Happy Birthday Miku** not in letters but hand-drawn spring onions.

The room was full of people, almost everyone she knew. Several of her friends from school, Kaito and Meiko, Neru as there as well, furthest in the back and keeping Haku out of the bigger crowd, her neighbors Len and Rin and many more.

Next to the counter was one large table, consisting of four tables put together, that had presents piled up on them, each and every single one with a name plate attached to them, showing who it was from. Confetti was raining over Miku as the guests started to pop the birthday cones. Gumi and Lily showed up just in time, entering with Luka, the four pushing Miku a little bit inside.

The now eighteen year old girl was completely moved when everyone declared loudly "**Happy Birthday**" to her.

Turning to her partner, Luka smiled. "Happy Birthday, love. I know I'm not exactly the best at planning these things and this was put together in a hurry, but I hope you like it."

Almost jumping at Luka and hugging her, Miku shed a few tears out of happiness. She had always spent her birthdays in relative quiet with what was left of her family and she had never even thought about having so many people come to her, **her birthday**. The gravity of it finally sunk in when the crowd started cheering as she kept hugging Luka. Blushing a little, she let go, receiving a kiss on the forehead from the songstress.

Turning around, Gumi and Lily were next to congratulate her. "Happy Birthday from us, too. Even though we haven't known you that long," Lily took over. "especially me," The word was returned to Gumi. "but we value you as one of our best friends and hope that you'll stay our friend for many years to come." Looking to her roommate, Gumi didn't need to do anything, Lily just knew. Walking over to the table and taking one of the wrapped gifts, she returned to Miku, handing it over. It was shaped like a tube. "I'm sorry about the stupid shape. There is a second part to this but it was too big to bring in here. You'll understand why when you open it."

"Can I open it right here?" Looking at the tube, Miku had absolutely no idea what to expect. The others had spread apart, giving Miku some freedom. They all knew she would be slightly uncomfortable if they ganged up on her, waiting in line. Some started to eat snacks, others enjoyed the drinks, but they all had an eye on Miku.

"Of course." Gumi really hoped she would like it. It had been Lily's suggestion and she thought it was a great idea.

Taking off the wrapping, Miku found a cardboard tube that was plugged close with a plastic lid on one side. Taking it off, she realized what was inside. "We'll help." As Miku made the content of the tube slide out, an enormous poster came to the see the light of day, picturing Miku herself in life size, dancing over a green field, under the blue sun, a great smile on her face. It was painted entirely with water colors. "A friend of mine deals in these."

Miku was so impressed she was actually speechless. Covering her mouth with her hand, she wanted to hug both of them right away, but that would have ruined the poster. Noticing her intentions, Gumi and Lily rolled the poster up again and put it back into the tube. It was a high quality image. Before Miku could do anything, Lily raised her finger. "A friend of mine had a frame that just happened to fit the size and had it shipped over to your apartment. It'll look great above your bed, don't you think?"

Hugging first Gumi, then Lily, Miku's smile was as wide as it could be. "You two are wonderful friends. And I love the image! I'm going to treasure it!"

Feeling someone behind her, Miku let go of the two, facing Kaito and Meiko. "We didn't quite know what to get, so we went with something practical." Kaito, as blunt and honest as ever. Meiko was already holding the gift. It was roughly the size of a head, maybe a little larger.

"I picked it out. I hope I didn't miss your taste." Meiko was confident she had chosen the right thing.

Opening the package, a very unique handbag looked at Miku. It was very much the exact color of her hair. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that it was one of a kind. Trying it on, she could hold it, hang it over one shoulder or put it around the other shoulder so it dangled on her waist. "It really is practical. But it's still really amazing! Where did you find one with that exact shade?"

"By coincidence." Meiko stepped on Kaito's foot, not too hard, just enough to make him not tell her that they went through over a dozen shops to find it. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you, you two." Hugging Kaito first and then Meiko, Miku received a double smile from them.

"Happy Birthday, Miku."

Next up where friends from her school, giving her a beautiful new pen that matched her new bag, and a very cute dress that some of them had bought together. As the pile on the table got smaller and Miku received present after present, the crowd spread thorough the bar. Luka showed up in-between presents, handing her a piece of strawberry cake that was absolutely delicious.

Rin and Len, the former looking completely normal, the latter a bit nervous, showed up not much later, both of them carrying a single, very large present. "Happy Birthday, Miku. You can open it." Both of the twins looked very pleased with their choice of present. While they didn't go along too well these days, they had called an absolute truce until Miku's party was over. Even Teto, Ritsu and Ruko had agreed to that, only the first of the three actually present.

Judging by the weight and the size, Miku had a hunch but couldn't believe that it would be **that**. Taking off the wrapping with high anticipation, Miku gasped for air when she realized it really was one. An old acoustic guitar, in perfect shape, with a large spring onion, carved with utmost care, very shallowly into the back. Having to bend down to hug them, Miku was incredibly happy with her present. "How did you **get** this?"

Smirking, Rin had asked Teto for help on it. "It's actually partially a present from Teto, too. She helped me get it. Len did the carving. He's talented with his hands." It wasn't often that Rin had praise for her brother.

"Thank you so much, you two."

A good hour later, Miku had received a lot more presents. At the last minute, the barkeep had brought in a huge birthday cake that took the place of the gifts. Everyone gathered around, Luka standing next to Miku, when the birthday girl cut it, earning a loud applause.

Appropriate for the occasion, a lot of Luka's and Gumi's music was played, with the few songs that Miku had put out running several times. The mood calmed down a little after the cake cutting, small groups forming to talk, make new acquaintances and exchange stories about how they met Miku. Only then showed Neru up, taking Miku back to the back, where it was just a tiny bit less hectic, Haku enjoying a piece of chocolate cake by herself at the time.

Taking a deep breath, Miku saw a look on her cousin's face that she hadn't seen in a very, very long time. Apologetic. "You know we haven't been on the best terms as of late and I'm not really much of a fan of Megu- of Luka. I know that she loves you and you love her. My present is that I won't treat her like an outside to our small family anymore. For a long time, Haku and I only had you, and when Luka came into play, I felt like she was taking you away from your family. I was too stubborn to accept that it wasn't the case, even after seeing how much happier you were with her than at home, alone."

If the other presents had impressed her, moved her, made her happy, Neru's was the one she had expected the least. That stubborn, foulmouthed cousin of hers was apologizing and saying she would treat Luka like part of her family.

Looking to Haku, the tall girl had put away her cake and was holding a very small present, no bigger than a fist. "This is something... I held on for a long time." Handing it to Miku with a smile, Haku felt a little sad, giving it away, but she was also happy that someone so close to her would be wearing it.

Miku's mouth remained wide open after taking off the wrapping paper, discovering a ring box, with a breathing silver ring inside, dozens of notes engraved on it. She recognized it. Hearing the story from Neru, it was the ring that Haku had gotten when she was taken under contract. It was **her** sign of being a professional singer. "Haku, I can't take this."

"Please. I'm... I will be in your band, Miku. I will play with you. But I won't ever sing again. Your singing is beautiful. I want you to wear it, for me." Smiling with a look that expressed both happiness and sadness at the same time, Haku and Neru stood side by side. "Happy Birthday from your family, Miku."

Shedding a few tears, Miku sniffled and nodded, putting the ring on right away. It mysteriously fit her very well and Haku was very glad to see that. "I'll show Luka and the others. I love both of you so much." Acting like a little girl, Neru felt a sense of gratification. Hear fear that Miku might start her own life completely without them was an empty one, she knew that now.

Showing Luka the ring, who was impressed as well, the party went on, reaching one of it's highlights. The barkeep, after being paid extra by Luka, had enabled the karaoke box that was reserved for special occasions like this.

The crowd assembled around Miku, pushing her to sing for them. They all wanted to hear her life. Happy to oblige, if a bit embarrassed to sing in front of so many people, Miku stood in front of the monitor that was embedded into the wall. Singing _Love is War_ for her guests, they were all fascinated by how well Miku did.

A bit exhausted from running all over the place, receiving presents, eating cake and generally having to talk to everyone, Miku looked for a spot to retreat to. The barkeep eventually waved her over, raising the side entrance to the counter and letting her through. Entering the backroom, Miku found Luka sitting on a box of wine. Miku was incredibly thankful to her, the birthday party probably being her present and all.

Not saying a word, Luka got up and led Miku a bit further in, out of their line of sight of curious people. Hidden behind a several large crates, Luka kissed Miku with such passion that the green haired girl blushed, something she hadn't done from just a kiss for a long time. "I love you, Miku. I hope that we'll be able to have a party like this every year, for many years to come."

"Say Luka..." Miku was so tremendously in love with her, that the question came out without her meaning to. "If, for some reason, we can't be together anymore, what will you do?"

"Everything in my might to get you back. If you were gone, I could certainly never love anyone else again. It might sound weird for me to say this now, when we haven't been together for even a year, but... you're the love of my life, Miku. If you were gone, it would be like someone cut all the fun and happiness out of my life."

Her face was now fiercely red. Due to Luka's heels, she must have switched shoes after work, Miku had to tiptoe to reach her lips, returning the full passion of the kiss from earlier. "I love you the same way, Luka."

"The birthday girl shouldn't stay away from the party for too long. There is something I want to give you after everyone has gone home. Wait until then. I'll be out in a minute." Pushing Miku gently towards the exit, Luka kissed her nape. "I'm happy you're enjoying this."

Returning to the party, Miku witnessed how Lily rescued Gumi from the girls that went to the same school as Miku, shooing them away while hissing, laughing a few seconds after. She really had a lot of great friends. Looking around, she even saw Meiko and Haku together, enjoying a drink in the back. Kaito was with the barkeep, talking to them about something. Rin and Len talked to friends from Miku's school, showcasing that they were going to a school for the musically gifted.

As the party went on, the first to excuse themselves were the school girls from Miku's high school, leaving at 8 PM. The next to go were the twins and Teto, leaving shortly afterward. Meiko, Kaito, Haku and Neru remained until 10 PM, talking a lot to each other and to Miku.

After that, it was just the four of them, Miku, Luka, Gumi and Lily. Giving an obvious excuse, Lily took Gumi home for the night, leaving Miku with just Luka. As if he had waited for it, the barkeep flicked a switch and the lights became dimmed. Expecting to go home, Miku was surprised when instead a soft, romantic melody came on. She recognized it almost instantly. _Roses and Wine_.

"Were you happy today?" Hugging Miku from behind, Luka heard the door that connected the backroom to the main room fall shut. They were all alone.

"You know the answer to that." Snuggling up against Luka, enjoying the touch of her skin, the embrace, the way her arms fit nearly around her shoulders, Miku couldn't put into words how happy she was. "I won't ever forget tonight."

"Tonight isn't over yet. You still haven't gotten my present." Luka kept her lover close, talking softly into Miku's ear.

"Wasn't the birthday party your present?" Miku did remember what Luka had said in the backroom, but she didn't think Luka meant an actual present.

"Hold still. And close your eyes." Smiling, Luka took something out of her pocket, a small box, resembling a ring box, and opened it, taking it's contents. Reaching over Miku's shoulders, Luka put a beautiful locket of real silver around Miku's neck. "You can open them now."

Looking down on herself, Miku could feel the cold touch of the silver on her skin and the locket dangle above her breasts. There was a small decoration oh the front lid, and upon closer inspection, Miku found that it was a heart over a spring onion. "That's beautiful. What's inside?" Curiously holding it, Miku waited for Luka to tell her to open it.

"I know this would've been better suited to our anniversary. Just open it."

Excited, her heart beating like crazy, Miku carefully opened the lid. There was no surprise in her expression, only happiness. She was looking at an image of herself and Luka. Her love was wearing a purple sweater, while she was wearing a sky blue hoodie, black leggings and a deep blue mini skirt. But what was special about the image was that they didn't just stand together. It depicted Luka carrying Miku like a princess, with Miku laughing happily, her eyes closed, her hands put together behind Luka's neck. The loving gaze of her partner showed just how much she cared, even in that image. It was from one of their first dates.

And the image was only part of it. Carved in the inside was a short message that drove tears of happiness to her eyes. Turning around and hugging her partner, Miku kept crying and smiling at the same time, unwilling to move at all.

Keeping Miku in her arms, Luka kissed her, time and time again.

"_**Eternally in Love, Luka."**_

~~~ End of Concert XIV ~~~


	15. Paparazzi and Breasts

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XV**

_Paparazzi and Breasts_

The last day had been a disaster to put it plainly. She understood what westerners meant when they said _Jumping from the frying pan into the fire_. Could the situation get possibly any worse? Ia couldn't imagine anything, short of seeing her sister's mutilated corpse right in front of her.

It was all the fault of that stupid guy. Putting something in their drinks, what was he thinking? And now she had to pay for it, too! Laying flat on her back, rolling over her couch, she could still smell **her** despite cleaning the couch several times in different ways. She would get a new one.

But really, for things to turn out like **this**? She hadn't expected that...

_If silence could be deafening, then Ia assumed that the situation she was in right now was very much a prime example of it. She and Seeu were waiting in the same conference room, for over twenty minutes now, without saying a word, just staring at the table. Their agents had been so incredibly angry that Ia expected their heads to literally catch fire any second._

_Being put in the conference room so they could handle the nuclear fallout of their actions, Ia wasn't feeling too good. Not only because of what happened last night but because she didn't actually dislike her agent and work, just the relation to Seeu both of them brought._

_A staff member eventually showed up, looking like he had just traversed a den of lions, tigers, a pack of wolves and several bears, to bring some food to his cubs. Handing each of them today's issue of a tabloid, he quickly made his exit._

_Reading the title page, Ia felt even worse than before, downright sick. "Wanna take a guess why they're mad?"_

"_What is there to guess about you stupid cunt?" Throwing the tabloid on the table, Seeu didn't even want to look at it. A big close-up of Ia taking Seeu, in her arms, up to her apartment, both of them unable to take their hands off each other._

_Going to the actual article, there were images from the club, blurry images shot from the front seat of a taxi that presumably followed theirs after they left the club, all the way up to her apartment room. And then a few more of them leaving together, Seeu wearing Ia's clothes._

_Going by the looks of it, Ia was looking at the prospect that her career was going to be over after this. I didn't matter to the public and the press if they had been drugged or not. "I can't wait to see you flipping burgers. If they're even going to hire you."_

"_Forget killing myself, I'll kill **you** if I lose my job over this!" Hissing at the girl on the opposite side of the table, Seeu didn't want to be reminded of what happened. Ever again._

"_You're welcome to try." Smirking, Ia shot a glare towards Seeu, intimidating the girl. Going back to reading the tabloid, she couldn't even find any mention of Gakupo being there. It would be impossible to prove they were actually drugged until they involved the authorities and that was just even **more** bad press at this point._

_It was one thing to pretend to like each other on stage for the fans, and most of them were probably aware of it, but to have their private lives publicly exposed like this was a disaster. South Korea wasn't exactly the most tolerant country on the planet in regards to homophobia. The worst part was that she didn't even feel anything but the blonde._

_Finishing the article and reading the rest of the newspaper out of boredom, Ia went back to waiting for another fifteen minutes before someone finally showed up. And what an amount of someones it was. Their agents and several agency higher ups came in, sitting down one after another. Ia and Seeu both felt the impulse to get up and escape but the stares of their agents wouldn't let them._

"_First we'd like to hear an explanation." The vice-president of the agency was there himself, asking questions._

_Ia went first. "I found Seeu in the SheyShay and challenged her on stage. This is nothing new, we have both been there many times. I was called to the VIP lounge where I met Gakupo, who had asked to meet me, and supposedly, also her." The atmosphere changed a bit when she mentioned the star."_

"_Continue." The vice-president was unfazed by this turn of events._

"_Eventually, Seeu came up as well and we were both served a drink he ordered. I didn't notice anything when I drank it. After that, there is a massive hole in my memory and I can't recall anything. The tabloid probably did a good job at covering it for all to see." Ia wanted to spit in the face of that asshole that had possibly ruined her career._

"_What she said is pretty much right. I was dancing, was challenged and stepped down from the center stage a bit later. I was called up as well and I remember everything up when we were served drinks."_

"_I do not need to know the details of what happened **inside** your apartment, Ia." The vice-president cut her off just as she opened her mouth to explain. "I will explain things to you two. There has been a surprisingly mixed answer to the article. We have had many complaints but there were also callers that have offered new working contracts due to this. After talking this over with your managers, the decision is ultimately yours. I personally do not care what the relationship between you two is as long as there is no violence. You can either stand up, walk out of this room and that will be it. You'll be done as an idol and won't have to deal with each other possibly ever again."_

"_My gut tells me we're not going to like the other option much more than quitting."_

"_You should have thought about that before getting involved in shady business like this. Do not mistake this for an opportunity. This is damage control. If all is said and done, you will still have suffered damage to your reputation."_

"_What's the other option? I can't go back to being some dumb country girl."_

"_You will from now on uphold the act of lovers at any time the press can see you. This will mean that you will live together, for pretenses. You can have separated bed rooms but not separated apartments. You will act as lovers in public and be marketed as such instead of it being a minor factor that would only show on stage. It is that or quitting after last night's chaos."_

_Seeu almost started crying. Slamming her fists on the table, she jumped up and was well on her way out the door before her agent spoke up. "Are you sure, Seeu? Is faking a relationship really worse than losing your chance at fame and money?"_

_Gritting her teeth, the blonde took the handle of the door, and opened it. The doorstep had turned into a cliff for her, one she had to jump off. Trying to take a step forward, she couldn't. She had worked so hard, endured so much... she just couldn't thrown it all away. It was all **her** fault! **Entirely her fault!**_

_Not moving from the spot, Seeu shed bitter tears. She hated that girl! She hated her so much! She wanted her to die already! But she couldn't go back to being a normal girl. Not after all of this. People would laugh at her and the bullying would be much worse than what that bitch did. Nobody would hire her, even if she managed to graduate. Her grades had always been average, so what chance did she have to land a job that wasn't terrible?_

_Ia sat in her chair, looking like a ghost. She didn't care at all about having to fake a relationship. She bullied Seeu that way in public wherever they met already anyway. What **really** worried her was the chance that in some way her sister would catch wind of the pretend-relationship and think it was real. She absolutely couldn't stand the thought of Yukari thinking she would ever have eyes for anyone but her. But quitting? She would have to go back to Japan, live with her parents in Shibetsu, Hokkaido, unable to pay the private eye to take pictures of Yukari or even go to Tokyo to see her. That was even worse than the possibility of Yukari misunderstanding something._

"_I'm in. I don't like it, but I'm in, **if** we still get to go to Tokyo." Raising her hand slightly, Ia let out a huge sigh. This was very much not her idea of how that visit was supposed to happen._

"_The visit cannot be canceled or postponed unless one of you falls seriously sick."_

_Seeu's agent was making her way to the blonde that still stood on the doorstep. She wanted to walk out of the room to spite Ia and to avoid having to play house with her. But the abyss beyond the cliff, the doorstep, was endlessly deep and dark. Opening her mouth and whispering, Seeu felt like she was selling her soul to something much worse than the devil himself._

"_She'll do it." Her agent was relieved but also worried. The relationship between the girls had always been not good but this was much worse than it had ever been._

"_Then we're done here. You will sign a new contract tomorrow and your agents will handle your new apartment. Until then you're confined to your respective apartments. Do not cause any more trouble for the agency." As everyone walked out, Seeu's agent getting the girl out of the way, only both agents remained with their girls._

"_I'm driving you back, Ia." Taking a deep breath, grateful that the girls didn't quit, Ia's agent was preparing herself for some harsh times to come._

"_See you later, **darling**." Taking pleasure in teasing Ia, she grinned at the hateful look the girl shot her._

Wondering if she really had picked the correct option, Ia rolled over again. She had already cleaned up her apartment but she needed to pack her things. Sharing a place with Seeu would be horrid, because she couldn't set up the living room to one great altar of tribute to how perfect Yukari was. Blushing while thinking about her, Ia reached between her pants, licking her lips. After that venomous act last night, she would need to purify herself before meeting Yukari.

Turning over again, she suddenly smelled Seeu and all her excitement from thinking about Yukari went down the drain. Annoyed, and a little apathetic, Ia pulled herself off the couch and looked for her laptop. Browsing the net for a bit, she checked what people were saying about her and Seeu.

It was pretty much split down the middle. Half the people were disgusted, half was overly excited, to the point of posting made up stories and drawing images of them together. Scrolling past that, one post caught Ia's attention. It was listing a lot of her, and Seeu's, personal data. Real names, addresses... even their height, weight and cup sizes. "This is gonna be fun." Reading through it, first of all they got her name wrong. "What's an Ai Sanoto? Who came even up with this?" She wasn't exactly hiding her real name, Lia Akasaka, so what was wrong with those people? The remainder of the data was also wrong. She was 163cm, not 153cm tall. "58kg? What am I, a cow? First it's ten too few, not it's ten too much?" She was very proud of her weight because it was exactly what she supposed Yukari was weighting right now. She almost never wore heels, too, for the same reason, wanting to be exactly as tall as her sister. "At least they got my cup size right." She wasn't ecstatic about her lack of breasts but she was very much comforted by the fact that her sister was pretty much the exact same size. And being an A cup made buying clothes somewhat easy.

Reading through the rest of her personal info, Ia closed the tab and opened a media player, playing her favorite playlist, all of Yukari's songs, interviews and drama CDs. Going through a few of the thousands of images of Yukari she had on her laptop, Ia cursed when she couldn't settle down. Switching back to the browse, restoring the tab via history and scrolling back down to the post, she went over Seeu's personal info as well. Morbid curiosity was a horrible thing.

Real name, Dahee Kim. She didn't bother to read the address since that would change soon, anyway. Height was what she expected, 159cm, 44kg weight, nothing unusual. The blonde was an A cup, just like Yukari and herself. Sharing the same breast size as her sister was unforgivable. Closing the tab again, Ia cursed her own curiosity. Getting up, letting the music play, she started to look for boxes to put her stuff away.

"Hopefully there is a balcony at the new apartment so Seeu can have an **unfortunate** accident."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Miku had found a new challenge to deal with. Her fame in school. Returning to high school for classes and a test, she had already been asked out by eight guys and two girls before the first class had started. Rejecting them all, obviously, Miku had trouble focusing on her studies. Her foot locker had been stuffed with love letters as well. Taking them in one big bulk and throwing them into the nearest trashcan, she really didn't have the patience to deal with this. How old were those people, twelve?

In class, it wasn't any different. People were staring at her from across the class and she received a dozen notes during homeroom, almost all of them asking her if she was in a relationship with Luka. The rumor that she had rejected ten people within twenty minutes had already spread thorough the entire school.

The birthday from four days ago seemed like a very distant memory already. Luka was at work today and she contemplating that work was actually less stressful than school. Focusing on what the teacher was saying, a small ball of paper hit her head. It made the dozen full. Having stored all of them, Miku rose up, holding all the paper balls, walked to the teacher's desk and dumped the whole bunch. "I assume these people have very important things to say that they would like the class to hear."

Returning to her seat, the class got very quiet. The teacher, very much aware of who Miku was, gave the class a strict look and then threw the papers away. "I'm sure this will be the last of those." That wasn't a question, it was a warning.

Getting through the rest of her classes without incident, Miku quickly left the classroom at lunch break and headed for the back gate of the school. Cars were driving again and Luka was already there, waiting for her. At this point, she could just run with the excuse that they were meeting for work.

Waving to her partner, Miku saw the grin on Luka's face get bigger and bigger. "What?!"

"You look great in that uniform. I wish you'd hear it at home sometimes."

"Please give me a break Luka. People have been obnoxious the entire day." Getting into the co-driver seat, Miku saw dozens of people ogle her and Luka from the roof and the windows. Putting her bag beneath her feet, Miku opened the small compartment in front of her and took out sunglasses, putting them on. With a smile, Luka drove off, the head wind making Miku's twin tails fly in the air.

"How many did you turn down?"

"Ten personally and probably a lot more by trashing all the love letters and notes they threw at me during class. It's utterly ridiculous. And I thought working was hard. Makes me wish I could just go public about us."

"You are going public. You're wearing my locket." Luka was quite happy that Miku was so smitten with her present.

"That's different. I'm only taking it off for bathing or sleep so I don't damage it. It's really important to me."

"I'm glad you like it so much." Taking Miku's hand, Luka pulled it up to her mouth, kissing her fingers. "Tastes a bit like lead."

"Weirdo." Grinning, Miku sighed. "I need to be back in like fifty minutes. Can we go and eat lunch somewhere? You have work, too, don't you?"

"Don't bring that up please. How in the world did they just _miss_ half my workload? I was wondering why it was so little, to be honest, but also kinda glad because I get to see you more that way."

"What's the one called you were recording this morning?"

"A Single Red Leaf. I keep messing it up because my thoughts are somewhere else."

"Thinking about me getting hit on by other guys and girls?"

"You seriously had girls confessing to you too?" Smirking, Luka kept her eyes on the street, turning right and heading towards a nice Chinese restaurant she liked that was relatively close by.

"I would be dating you even if you were a guy. Breasts, soft skin, tasty lips and lack of needed prevention are all a very nice bonus to being a lesbian though."

"Doesn't it make you bisexual if you would also date me as a guy?"

"If it's limited to just you that would be Lukasexual."

"And I'm the one making words up. But that's so sweet of you to say. Does that make me Mikusexual?"

"You're something else entirely. Those terms can't be applied to you. Are you taking me to that Chinese place you like?"

"Yep. They're really quick and do take-out. I haven't eaten anything since this morning so I'm really starving."

"Having sex with me doesn't count as eating, Luka." Coming to a stop at a red light, Miku yawned. "I feel bad for my friends but I really didn't want to deal with the endless questions about my new life."

Hitting a more serious topic, Luka was just now wondering about it. "Are you happy that you started going out with me, got into the business and everything? Or do you think you would have been happier if you had remained a normal high school girl?"

"I'd usually just say that that's obvious but... if I hadn't gone out with you, I would have missed the love of my life. I'd have also missed a line of work I'm really passionate about even if it's very hard. I'd probably have also never met Gumi or Lily. So, I'm really happy we met and you took such an interest in me. You made my life a whole lot better." Looking at Luka, Miku saw her blush a bit, something that very rarely happened. "Too honest?"

"No. I'm happy you think that way. Our line of work is a bit much for some people." Luka sighed. "I just wish we could be open about our relationship. At least we get a lot of duets together so we can pretend to always be together due to work."

"You'd find some kind of excuse anyway." Their ride continuing, Miku wondered what people were thinking, seeing a high school girl in a sports car together with a national level star, driving around. She was betting there were a lot of jealous girls and even more guys.

"There is a big concert next week. Remember those two Korean idols were saw at your place? The ones Lily wanted to see? She called me earlier and asked me to use my connections to get her tickets. They'll be in town for a week or something. Want to take a look at the competition?"

Groaning a little bit, Miku shook her head. "I don't really want to. I don't speak Korean and to be honest, I'd prefer for things to be quiet for a bit once we're done with work. I still have _Cremation_ to do, and then there is still the _Akatsuki Arrival_ we're going to sing together."

"I'll tell Lily then. She is gonna go no matter what and probably gonna drag Gumi along." Luka was wondering how they were doing. They had gotten Lily a new bed and put some furniture into their new place. It was good enough to hang out at now, even though Lily was every bit the slob she was herself. Both of the green haired girls had to clean up after them.

"I'm going to be off work about thirty minutes after you get out of school. I had Lily make the arrangements to rent us a practice room, so I was thinking we should start with the band."

"You're really pulling that off? Well, I said I was on board so I'll stick to my word. It's been a while that I played, though." Stretching for a moment, Miku's stomach growled. "I'm taking fried rice with shrimp, extra spicy."

"Why do you always order just fried rice?" Luka had not once managed to get Miku interested in any of the plentiful other dishes they offered.

"It's easy and quick to eat, tastes good, no nasty surprises and I never get an upset stomach from it." Looking to Luka, Miku paused for a moment. "If you want me to eat something else, you'll have to cook it."

"I'll make mapo tofu then." Luka grinned.

"You really liked that show didn't you? So much that you're making that Kanade girl's favorite dish?"

"Oh come on, it was such a heart wrenching story."

"And he got very much friend zoned at the end."

"I think the two girls met in their next life and hooked up."

Turning and slowing down while getting into the drive-through, Luka ordered first. "Char Siu, extra large portion, Basi Digua, also extra large, and fried rice with shrimp, extra spicy. Also three cokes." Looking to Miku, she explained the extra order. "We're going to the practice place. Lily asked me if I could bring her something to eat."

"Char Siu again? Are you trying to become a body builder?" Poking Luka's upper arm, Miku put her head against it. "I like it soft, though."

"It's meat, not a protein shake, Miku. We were talking about the band, do you think we should just do a few cover songs and maybe one original for starters? It'll be easier on Lily if she doesn't have to write three or four songs all in one go."

"I'll just pick a couple popular songs. As some unknown band you don't get any big gigs anyway. If you get to be the opening act for a decent band, that's already something."

"Bet you we could get even some stadium gig if we showed our faces."

"After we're fired and sued, maybe." Miku wasn't too happy with that aspect. Maybe she should try to weasel in a clause that she's allowed to perform outside her contract. Nodding towards the window, Miku redirected her love's attention.

Getting their take-out and handing it to her partner, Luka drove away. "Is the practice room far from your place?"

"About that... Miku, you practically live in my apartment now. Don't you think it's time to just move in with me? We sleep together and there is basically enough space if we sort through all of my crap I don't need anymore."

"_Our_ place does have a nice ring to it." Thinking about it for a moment, Miku couldn't really see any reason not to do it. Her old place was running on Neru's name and it wouldn't really change anything for them if she moved out. She didn't need most of the furniture she had at home, considering Luka's bedroom was shared, but she would move a few things.

"We can talk about this over lunch. You still got forty minutes or so, right?"

"Thirty-eight. Plenty to eat and get back. Just don't drive like a dare devil."

Finding a parking spot right across the street, Luka got out, waited for Miku and both of them went across the street. Taking the two bags Miku was carrying, leaving her with the drinks, Luka opened one of the bags and immediately closed it upon feeling a deadly leer from Miku.

It was a small building that had three underground stories, the last one being their practice room. It was surprisingly spacey if a bit much dark. Before entering, they could already hear someone doing vocal training. Opening the heavy metal door, Luka whistled. "Time to feed the carnivores."

"Luka, Miku, you came! I was losing hope I'd have to die hungry and with a sore throat." Getting a good look of Miku in her high school uniform, Lily grinned. "You look good in that."

"So I'm told." Looking around, there were no chairs or something around beside the one for the drums. There was also her guitar leaned against the wall and Luka's bass next to it. "No chairs?"

"Over here. That wall only looks like a wall but they have sort of a mini lounge behind it." Going to the very end of the wall, Miku found that the pale yellow colored walls created an optical illusion of the wall continuing when it was actually the wall behind it. Two of the smallest couches she had ever seen were put against the walls, a table forced in the middle. Luka had already moved in at one side and Lily sat down across the table.

"I kinda hope we all get stuck so I have a great excuse to miss afternoon school." Miku earned a laugh from her friend and partner as she sat down.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"This is degrading!" Cul complained for the sixteenth time.

"Beggars can't be choosers. Why are you complaining? You're getting the most tips out of us three since you actually have big breasts." Yukari replied in a monotone voice, for the sixteenth time. Her small breasts didn't bother her much, there were plenty of women that only had A cups even as adults, but Cul was really annoying about it.

"It's not like I'm as flat as Yukari..." Galaco was working with them.

All three of them had been hired by a local repair shop that had, without any success, looked for _Wash Girls_, girls that would wash the car of a customer in swimsuits if they came in and spent over five thousand yen. Cul was wearing a skimpy bikini, crimson red and a little too small for her, Galaco a pink bikini, a bit too big for her, and Yukari was wearing a school swimsuit and had only gotten hired because it was either all three or none of them.

Being treated worse than the other two because she wasn't as busty had pissed her off a little but it wasn't the first or even among the first dozen times this had happened. Men were men and most that could afford to have their car randomly repaired or checked out for five thousand yen seemed to prefer Cul the most.

Finally able to take a break, not long enough to take off their swimsuits, Cul had made two thousand yen in tips, Galaco twelve hundred and Yukari three hundred. Sitting behind the building on a few chairs put up around an old table, Cul and Galaco both didn't want to say anything. Yukari worked harder than any of them and she never said a single bad word. "Yukari, uh... it's okay to complain if you hate the work." Galaco had dealt with someone like that before. They always ate up all their anger and eventually exploded.

"What do you want me to say? That this job is shit, that I hate being dressed like this, that I think men are total pigs, that I want to throw a bucket every time I see someone's head going up and down in the same pattern as Cul's boobs jiggle?" Leaving a rather terrified impression with the sisters, Yukari's eyes were just narrow slits. "I **really** don't give a shit about all of that. It's a job. I do it to have something to eat. You two never went hungry for a few days so you wouldn't get it. If it's this or going hungry, this is practically irrelevant on the shame scale."

"You went through a lot, didn't you..." Cul didn't know what else to say.

"I did. I'm never going to tell you about it though because I live this way so I can forget about it." Changing from angry to haughty, Yukari's grasp on her normal personality was slipping again. "Just do your work and stop complaining. This is nothing they wouldn't see at a public pool anyway." Not that she would actually be wearing a school swimsuit to a public pool. Or anywhere, really.

Cul still felt very uncomfortable. It bugged her a little that Yukari was, despite working the hardest, treated the worst. In the end, the money was still pooled and spend on food, but it didn't sit quite right to her. Maybe she could get two sponges and stick them under her swimsuit? She was worried that Yukari might literally leave her out on the street if she asked her that, though...

"Let's go, break is almost over. Try to rake in some more tips. Cul, flash those tits of yours if your silly pride lets you. If we make enough we might even be able to eat meat for once this week." The word _meat_ had become quite the motivation. The homeless were still a level below the really poor, even though Yukari and her group did very well for themselves all things considered.

Spending another four washing cars, it was finally time to get paid. And there laid the big problem. They were refusing to pay them due to having less customers than expected and Cul kicking over a bucket of water that hit one of the shops mechanics shoes. The redhead and the blonde were furious and arguing with the owner, who just kept a haughty smirk on his face, refusing to pay a bunch of homeless girls.

"You seem to forget one very important thing." Yukari was in a dangerous mood, again. "We homeless know those who live on the street. What do you think would happen if word spread that you cheated us out of our money after having us walk around in humiliating outfits all day? I'm sure a few thieves, burglars and maybe arsonists would like to have a word with you. It would be a shame if all of your valuables were stolen and your shop burned to the ground, wouldn't it? And all just because you felt like you were above paying a bunch of girls for their hard work."

"Boss, should I rough her up a little to make the bitch stop run her mouth?" One of the mechanics had enough of her blabbering.

"Japan's police force treats attempted rape pretty seriously. And just how many people do you think have seen us work here today? If we mysteriously turned up beaten at the police station, **who** would be the prime suspect I think? And did you know they can match the impressions tools and fists leave on their victims to their attackers, nowadays?"

"They can do that?" Another mechanic was starting to feel very threatened. "Boss, let's just pay them. It's peanuts anyway!"

Making a grunt, the store owner took a bunch of bills out of his pocket, counting a few and handing them to Yukari. "Not what we negotiated."

Cul whispered _Arson, Arson, Arson_ while looking very much like she was ready to bite them. That was enough to make the man hand over the remainder of the bills.

"Let's go. If I were you, I wouldn't try to cheat homeless people out of their money again. Not everyone feels like warning you about the possible dangers of scamming hard working people." Walking off, Yukari counted the money, wearing her normal clothes again, putting the bills in her pocket.

Cul and Galaco both followed, also back in their normal clothes. They had all kept the swimsuits although Galaco and Cul had switched, the red bikini fitting Galaco much better and vice versa. Yukari only kept the swimsuit because it was essentially free clothing.

"That was really cool!" Outside, Cul walked next to Yukari, impressed by her demeanor. "I didn't know you could bluff like that."

"Who said I was bluffing? If they had cheated us out of our money, I would have spread word. Before the end of the week, their shop would be ashes and shambles." Yukari's expression was as grim as that of a soldier that had seen the middle east wars. She didn't find it funny when people tried to scam her.

Galaco didn't say anything, not feeling too well about the whole action. "Yukari, is there any place we could shower? I haven't taken one in... too long." It had been five days since they visited a public bath and washed up. It was too expensive to afford more often than at most thrice in two weeks.

Three times 450 Yen wasn't a lot for normal people but definitely not something a trio of homeless girls could afford very often. "Since Cul made quite a bit more than I thought and we got paid, we can go. We'll bring our own things though, so we're going back to the apartment first."

"Yay!" Both of the sisters exclaimed together. What they had taken for granted before, a daily bath, was now something special they would really enjoy. No matter how much they went on and on about how a girl couldn't live without bathing every day, Yukari told them that some of the girls that live on the street can almost never afford it, never mind multiple times a month.

Taking a shortcut between two houses, Cul was suddenly run over by a guy running as fast as he could. Galaco barely managed to jump out of the way while Yukari dodged with relative easy. Seeing that he was carrying a handbag, Yukari watched him turn right at the exit. Within seconds, the police came running after him, trying to get past the three girls.

"He went left up ahead!" Shouting, Yukari watched the police officers take a turn to the left, shouting something else. "Cul, get up." Looking to one of her proteges, the purple haired girl continued to walk slowly toward the exit, stepped out between the houses, took a good look around, waited ten seconds and whistled twice.

With a rustling sound, the guy that had run Cul over popped out of a large bush in the garden of the house they stood in front of. "My cut. I got them off your back." Holding out her hand, the guy handed over a small pile of vouchers.

"There you go, Yuki." Taking off, hiding the handbag under his jacket, the thief didn't just meet Yukari there for the first time.

"What did you just do?" Galaco was slightly confused by this turn of events.

"Got the cops off his back for a cut. That guy lives under the bridge two kilometers from here, makes his days a petty thief. He, and many others, make agreements with the rest of us people that live on the street. I told you I'm not bluffing."

"What did he give you?"

"20 vouchers for a 100 Yen per person bath visit at the public bath about ten minutes away from our place. He must have held on to this knowing I would have more use for it than anyone else." Looking to the girls, Yukari crushed their dreams. "This doesn't mean daily baths so forget about that idea. We'll have more money for food this way."

"Isn't the police going to nail you for lying?" Cul wasn't too happy helping a thief.

"And how are they gonna prove I didn't just mistake one direction for another?" Yukari on the other hand found that to be nothing but daily business.

"Why did he call you Yuki?" Galaco found that a weird name. Was it short for Yukari?

"Beats me. I never asked." Guessing that it was just a teasing name for her cold-hearted demeanor, Yukari continued to walk, storing the vouchers in her pocket for later.

Getting back to their apartment, dropping off their things and grabbing towels and soap, things Yukari had let slip on visits to a public bath at the far end to the other side of Tokyo, the three made their way to the public bath. It was still in the afternoon so there was nobody there but them. "Three times." Putting three vouchers and 300 Yen on the desk, the front person knew Yukari already.

"I see you're still stuck with those two." Laughing, the man was quite fond of Yukari. He treated his customers well, even if they were homeless, and in exchange, he was never plagued by any petty thief or crime.

Saying nothing in response, Yukari took off her shoes and put them away, Cul and Galaco following the same procedure. Starting to undress, Cul's eyes kept shifting over to Yukari, particularly her chest. It had been a few days, again, since she slept with her and she was starting to get really horny again. She didn't know why but Yukari had strictly forbidden her from making a move before midnight and only when they were in their room.

"Yukari, what cup size are you?" Galaco tackled the elephant in the room, leaving Cul with a slight headache.

But to the surprise of both sisters, Yukari answered the question completely nonchalantly. "A. You?"

"C." Galaco answered first. She thought she would feel at least a bit of pride for having decently big breasts but she only felt a bit of shame over expecting to feel proud.

"D." Cul didn't expect to feel any pride over having bigger breasts. She had acted like that a lot before she ran away from home but after meeting Yukari she realized how incredibly shallow and stupid it was to behave like that.

"Is that so?" Completely uncaring, Yukari had finished stripping and carried her things, soap and towel, to the faucets, starting to rinse before bathing.

Sitting down next to Yukari a few seconds later, Cul wondered what the girl had gone through to make her so... bizarre. She could be incredibly nice when she had to, very intimidating for the same reasons and otherwise she switched between angry, uncaring, bothered and dull seemingly at random.

What do you do in winter when it gets really cold? We don't have a heater, right?" Washing her head, Cul occasionally peered at Yukari. The more time she spend with her, the less romantically interested she became. The sex that one time had been great, but she just couldn't understand the girl at all beyond that.

"Cuddle up with her and me. And I mean cuddle, not fuck." The way she said it made very clear that there was no room for arguing and _what if_ scenarios. "Or you can hope your sleeping bag keeps you warm on your own. That's what I did until you two showed up. Still gets really cold though."

"How come we have running water for the toilet but no heater or shower?" Galaco didn't understand how that worked.

"Remember that Frankenstein looking guy that sometimes comes to our place in the middle of the night and is gone before dawn? He worked with the buildings pipes a bit. Whenever we use the toilet, we actually rake up the water bill of the people above us. It was too difficult to do it for the shower so that's why there's no running water except the toilet." A Japanese style toilet wasn't the most comfortable thing but it was better than having to find another way.

"He wasn't able to tap into the electricity lines that run through the building?" Cul really wished they had a heater, radio or TV. She was used to a lot of those things so not having them really showed her how frugal life could be.

"Too dangerous and obvious. You do realize that we could get kicked out in a minute if the building manager caught wind of us, right?" Yukari finished washing her hair and proceeded to scrub her arms and legs. "It's best to keep a low profile."

"Who is that guy anyway? What's his name?" Cul was a little intimidated by him.

"I have no idea. He is handy to have around because he scares off other people. I've never heard him talk and when he wants to tell me something he leaves a written note on the table. I sometimes go weeks or months without seeing him at all." Using a sponge to clean herself, Yukari stopped when Cul was touching her arm. "Cul?"

"You know, I'm surprised your skin is like this when you've been living on the street for two years." The redhead was a little jealous.

"People always get the wrong ideas of what causes poor skin conditions. Drinking too much alcohol, eating too much greasy food, smoking, drugs, stress, those are the main causes. We don't drink, don't smoke, eat mostly rice and vegetables, don't take drugs and there is very little stress." Finishing rinsing by dumping the contents of her bowl over her head, Yukari went into the hot bath first, feeling incredibly relaxed.

Sitting there with her towel on her head, eyes closed, Yukari looked very much normal. "You two should hurry. You're missing out, you know?" Her attitude was also all cleaned up, in the opinion of the sisters.

Galaco was second to enter the bath, sitting next to Yukari, who was so quiet and unmoving that she thought the purple haired girl had fallen asleep. Poking her cheek, Yukari didn't bother to open her eyes to respond. Grabbing Galaco's finger, she blew cold air on it, sending shivers down the blonde's spine.

Stretching briefly, Yukari wondered how much longer she was going to live like this. Having the sisters around wasn't all bad, as proven by the repair shop action. Cul had the looks to bring in quite a bit of money and Galaco would possibly be there in a year or two as well. They could be a bit nosy and annoying, with each of them having their unique needs, but they were very tolerable.

Maybe she would even miss them a little bit when they were gone. But in the end, it wouldn't change too much. Living off the grid was something she didn't mind too much. She was just worried that her sister might eventually show up. Lia was stupid to think that her own sister wouldn't realize when she was being spied on. She did wonder where Lia had gotten the money to pay someone to do that though. Her parents surely wouldn't pay for that short of Lia extorting them somehow.

Noticing that other people were coming in, Cul had by now joined their group of two, Yukari opened her eyes and took a look. A really short blonde who was still in her early teens, two redheads and a black haired giant. Thankfully the tub was big enough so she and the sisters could stay away from them.

Cul's eyes were glued to the shorter redhead and the black haired woman. Both of them had really large breasts, almost dwarfing her own. She guessed them to be at least an E cup, if not even F. "If you keep staring, your eyes will fall out." Yukari's voice was an icy whisper in Cul's ears. Turning her back to the new arrivals, Cul focused on Yukari instead. With her hair down and clean, her eyes closed and a peaceful expression, she was definitely someone she would have hit on. If she didn't know about her personality, that was.

Continuing to soak, Galaco got a bit closer to Yukari. "You read a lot, do you want to be an author in the future?"

"I lack the imagination needed for that. What about you?"

"Visual Kei band lead singer." Galaco had high goals for someone that was practically living on the street.

"Same here, minus the Visual Kei. I prefer normal music." Cul took part in the discussion.

"What about your sister? Is she in any kind of band?"

"She's done all kind of odd jobs but she did sing for a few different small bands. Lily is really intense when she is live, swinging a guitar around and everything." Cul had seen her on stage before. It was that very moment that inspired her to pursue music as a career as well.

"Must be great to have some kind of dream." Yukari's mood went dark for a moment before returning to normal, just sitting there and relaxing. The first of the four other girls was getting into the water at the other end of the tub now and the second follow almost immediately after. "I hope they don't start to be noisy..."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Hey, you're back. And you brought a Haku and Gumi with you." Raising her hand, Lily greeted the others, sitting in front of one of the amps, doing some adjustments. "How did you all fit into Luka's car? There's no backseat."

"We walked." Miku was up front, Gumi by her side and Haku right behind Miku. They had stopped by to get her before coming to practice. "Luka probably got stuck in traffic, bringing Haku's keyboard in. I see you already got the drums?"

Haku was looking very timid but surprisingly not scared. Miku was by her side, Luka wasn't there yet and Lily was greeting her with a funny comment. "Hi Lily." She still wasn't confident enough in herself to actually get to practice on her own.

"You look even better when you're not soaking wet, Haku." Turning to Miku, Lily pointed at the drums. "Gumi brought them yesterday, it's a beginner set but a good one. I met that ice cream guy, whats his name... uh... what was it..."

"Must be Kaito." Gumi chuckled.

"Yep, him! I met him at the party and thought I'd ask him to help out and he actually did. He's a really nice guy. A bit weird though, he commented on my ass but I don't think he was actually flirting with me."

"He's honesty in person but as you saw, a nice guy." Miku let go of Haku's hand. "Are you okay standing to the right of the drums, Haku?" Miku had already listened to Lily's explanation of who should stand where, in terms of visuals. "I'm standing here." Positioned in front of the drums but slightly to the right, Miku stood a good meter in front of the space that remained between keyboard and drums.

"I'm... fine there, yeah." Taking the position, Haku was happy she wasn't in the front. Not too far in the back, a bit on the outside was just right for her. Still with the others but not in the real limelight.

A knock on the door, Gumi ran over and opened up, Luka carrying the keyboard by herself. Putting it down on the ground, she was breaking out in sweat. "How are these things so heavy!?" Looking to Gumi, took used her hand to fan some air to herself. "Gumi, do me a favor and get the CD player out of the car. I picked up some stuff we could cover. I found the lyrics and most of the scoring online."

Looking to Haku, Luka smiled. "It's good to see you here. You're doing us a great favor."

"Uh... sure." She didn't expect Luka to be so nice about it.

Within five minutes, Luka had calmed down, Gumi returned and they all sat together. "Lily said that the best genre for the instruments we have is the general direction of heavy rock stuff. I got three tracks that are pretty popular so we could cover them and let Lily take it a bit easy with composing a song of her own."

Looking around, Miku found them to be quite a colorful group. Lily wore a black tanktop, jeans and sneakers, Luka was wearing a red shirt and also jeans but pumps. Miku was still in her school outfit, white blazer, blue skirt, stockings and sneakers. Gumi was coming from work and still wearing the clothes from that, an orange top, skirt of the same color and white boots with green rim. Haku was the most unusual out of the bunch with black jeans with purple lining, a long black t-shirt and her usual oversized ribbon that kept her hair in a ponytail.

"The first one is called Ressonance." Hitting the start button, Luka sat back. Within the second, a powerful mix of electronic and rock music. The lyrics weren't anything usual for the genre. Lily moved back and forth while the others listened quietly. Halfway into the song, Luka passed out scores. There were none for Gumi since the drumming part was relatively minor.

When the song ran out, she hit stop. "It's loud and pretty heavy but I think it would fit. Miku and Gumi make plenty of cheerful music and I cover a lot of more serious things so this would be a great addition."

"Haku, you can handle that kind of music, right?" Lily looked up from her score and focused on the silver haired girl. "If you don't like it, we'll pick something else."

"No... I like this song. I heard it on TV a few times." The keyboard parts for it weren't too difficult either. She could handle it.

"Miku, Luka, Gumi?" Lily immediately took the leader role. Luka had told her to cover these things since it was her project, more or less.

"No problems here."

"Likewise." Miku and Luka were both well within their capabilities with this.

"I have no score, so I'll have to go by ear. That means we'll have to run through it a lot." Gumi really would have preferred a score. She was the type to plan things after all.

"That's why practice is for. The next one is a lot more heavy on Miku and me and Lily is going to sound like a raven afterward but it would probably bring in a real crowd. This one is Red Faction by Mell." Hitting start, the guitar started right away. Miku could tell right away that this would be really difficult to cover.

Lily's lips moved on their own when the refrain started. _It's all up to you_. She knew that song in and out because she had covered it before. It was a great track. Running for three minutes forty-three seconds, the song was over much faster than they expected. For this one, Luka had scores for everyone.

"If you girls are okay with it, I really want to do that one. As the opening act, we won't have time for more than two songs anyway, so I'd wanna do this one and our first original piece."

"I'm... agree." Haku slowly raised her hand a little.

"Yay. Two in favor." Smiling wide at Haku, the busty woman blushed fiercely. "Thanks, Haku, I appreciate the support." Her face scarlet red, Haku hid her embarrassment behind her bangs, slightly turning away but feeling very happy inside.

"I'll have to put in some serious hours for this." Luka went over her own score. It wasn't easy. She was surprised that Haku was the first to agree since the keyboard was quite busy during that. "It'll take a while to get this down. You okay with that?"

"Sure. I'll work part-time to earn my keep anyway." Lily was prepared to spend a few weeks practicing.

"To be honest, I don't know if I can get this right. It's pretty difficult." Miku looked at the score with doubt. "I will try but I can't promise you I get it done." Miku felt bad for being unable to give a guarantee.

"That's fine with me. Gumi?" Lily was the most concerned, in musical skill, about Gumi, who they had sort of forced to pick up the drums.

"The score is really detailed. I'll be able to do this once I memorize it." Gumi was optimistic.

"Lily, have you ever composed something before?" Luka was curious about that.

"I did sixty to seventy percent of the work on a handful of songs. I can handle this, believe me." The blonde raised her fist and grinned. She didn't notice that Haku was staring at her with starry eyes.

"Should we start our first practice session then?" Getting on her feet, Luka helped Miku get up. Lily held her hand out to Haku and Gumi are the same time, only the green haired girl taking her hand, Haku getting up on her own.

Lily helped Haku put up her keyboard on a stand, Miku cautiously watching those two. Luka was right next to Miku, smirking. "They're both tall and their personalities compliment each other, don't you think?"

"Haku twenty-six, Lily is nineteen." Miku wasn't very thrilled by the prospect of those two starting anything at all. Friendship, okay, but anything beside wasn't sitting well with her. "And they don't even know each other."

"They'll have plenty of time to get to know each other. And we weren't exactly all-knowing about each other either."

"I know. I still don't like it. Haku getting hurt is the last thing I'd put on my _Things I want Lily to accomplish_ list." Miku was very protective of her cousin and Luka could feel that.

"She'll never get her confidence back if you keep babysitting her, Miku. I know that sounds harsh but maybe being around Lily is exactly what she needs." Taking her own spot, to the left of the drums, in the middle space between Lily and the back row, Luka plugged her bass into the amp.

With everyone on their positions, all five of them using the score they were given, Miku and Luka using a score stand in front of them, their first practice run of _Red Faction_ by Mell began.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"**One** of us needs to learn how to cook." Seeu was sick of eating out every day. Not that eating out by itself was a bad thing but it meant having to share a table with that stupid cunt IA and people seeing her be all nice and friendly to her.

Enjoying her spaghetti carbonara, Ia wasn't really bothered by it. The media had calmed down quite a bit after they had just come out and _explained_ that they were in a relationship. If it wasn't a secret, it wasn't worth talking about.

"Say something, hey!" Seeu massacred her salad with her fork, irritated to no end. Three days ago, just one day after getting told they had to be a pretend couple in public from now on, they had moved into a shared apartment. Thankfully they didn't have to share a bed. She really would have quit on the spot if that had been the case. Those last three days were among the worst of her life. Ia had been constantly bullying her day and night. The only plus side of being outside with her was that she had to be nice. The downside was that **she was in public with Ia, pretending to be a couple**.

"A lady doesn't talk with her mouth full. And I can cook. I just don't cook for anyone but my sister." Ia had dropped any pretense, bringing Seeu in the full know of her obsession. Her entire room was no more than a manifesto to her obsession.

"Where have I heard that before..." Rolling eyes, Seeu finished her salad and started on her own pasta, with much reluctance. Ia had ordered for her and she had ordered exactly what Seeu hated the most. Pasta al dente with shrimp.

Seeu was definitely going to learn how to cook if she had to keep this up for long. Which seemed to be the case, as things looked now. The part was that she was starting to **expect** the bullying now. When Ia didn't do anything, it almost felt unnatural and just as disgusting and deplorable as when she actually bullied her.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Putting down her fork, Seeu didn't get it. What exactly did she do that made Ia treat her worse than dirt.

"Is that a serious question? Because if it is, I might have to laugh." Waiting a few seconds for an answer, Seeu just grit her teeth and remained silent.

"It is a serious question." Her voice was a lot lower. If someone overheard them, it would be a disaster.

"For starters, you're a racist, incredibly arrogant, spoiled, childish and a diva. You expect special treatment just because you're popular. Should I continue?" Ia could have listed a good dozen more reasons why she hated Seeu. But it was fun to bully her, seeing her go through the same shit as the people she ordered around.

"Forget it." Wolfing down her pasta and feeling slightly sick afterward, Seeu sat back, waiting for Ia to finish. Taking her time, the taller of the two called the waiter and asked for a refill before finishing her food. "Why keep me here?"

"You just lock yourself up inside your room at home, that's boring. Since we're going to have to pretend to be a couple, tell me something about yourself." Ia's eyes were locked on Seeu. If her personality was so horrible, she might have gotten along with her. Of course, she could be second place to miss universe, her sister, and she still wouldn't feel a shred of real romance between her and Seeu.

"What should I even tell you? I don't know anything top of my head." Seeu pretty much knew everything about Ia at this point. She loved her sister. **Full stop**.

"Talk about your middle school. How often did you get asked out? Were you in any clubs? How were your grades? Your strongest and worst class?" Ia just wanted to know more in case an interview rolled around. It would be very suspicious if she didn't know these things.

"I was in the track and field club. That's why my stamina is better than yours. My grades were... decent." She couldn't tell Ia that she was almost held back a year once. She would abuse that forever. "I always hated math and my best class..." Seeu got quiet.

"Japanese? How did you manage being a racist and still being best at Japanese of all things?" Ia was genuinely puzzled by it.

"Because I had a thing for my Japanese teacher and wanted to impress him. There, happy?" The outlook of putting that fork next to her dish in Ia's face was getting more attractive with every second.

"Why did you avoid the topic of how often you got asked out?" Ia focused on Seeu's eye movement and the way she acted. "I see, zero, huh?" She chuckled. "How often did you get rejected?"

"Thrice." The fork. Ia's face. They would be perfect together.

"I was in the technology club. I learned how to set up surveillance and so on." Bending forward and whispering, Ia tormented Seeu a bit more. "You shouldn't masturbate so much by the way. Twice a day is a lot."

Blushing fiercely, Seeu couldn't believe that Ia spied on her. "Do... do you get a kick out of watching me? Does it turn you on?"

"Oh, I hit the bulls-eye." Ia chuckled again. "You're so easy to read."

She had played her. She didn't actually know anything and despite that had just made her admit it. That witch!

Getting her drink, Ia paid the waiter. "It was very delicious." Tipping him a bit, Ia got up, walked over to Seeu and gently took her hand. "Come, sweetie." Holding her hand while they walked out, Ia slowly pulled her in closer until Seeu was practically clinging to Ia's arm, much to her dismay.

"You're so going to hell." Seeu whispered while keeping a happy smile.

"Won't that be bad for you?" Touching Seeu's butt, Ia found it had to deny that she had quite a great asset down there, Ia responded with a genuine smile of her own.

"I'll be free of you, at last." Blushing after having her butt touched, she was happy she had worn pants. Ia would surely have flipped her skirt otherwise.

"But you're going to hell, too. We'll be together forever then." A brief but wicked smile danced over Ia's lips.

"I see. I must be already in hell." Feeling a sudden change in balance, the Korean girl was kissed on the lips in public by her Japanese pretend girlfriend. She really was in hell. Her own personal hell of nightmares.

~~~ End of Concert XV ~~~


	16. Japan and Silver

**Check out my other Yuri Stories or follow me on Twitter KuuTenko for updates on when a new chapter is released or being worked on.**

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XVI**

_Japan and Silver_

"It stinks. The air stinks, the people stink, especially the men, the buildings stink, the streets-" SeeU shut her mouth and winced in pain when Ia pinched her arm. In the last few days, she had learned something very important. It didn't actually matter what she did. Ia would always find a reason to bully her. Walking around with a scarf in the heat of early September, sweating like a pig, she couldn't take it off. Ia had left a very visible and especially large hickey on her neck and she'd rather sweat than have people see it.

Sitting inside a cab that was completely stuck in traffic, Seeu wished that one of those gigantic monsters that often show up in those trashy Japanese movies would walk up and squash the right half of the cab, conveniently turning Ia into canned meat.

But she wasn't that lucky. Instead, Ia took her boredom out on her. "Hey." Bend forward, Ia talked to the driver. "Me and my sweetie are going to have a bit of fun. Don't look." Of course, that was merely to ensure that he **would** look back. Tell someone not do something and they will to do it no matter what.

Turning to Seeu, the girl already knew what was coming to her next. She despised Ia for using her like this. It was worse than being someone's personal fuck sleeve. It was always the same thing. Ia would make her incredibly horny, force the blonde to make the sadistic girl come and then leave her, unsatisfied. Even worse, she wouldn't even let her touch herself to finish.

Unzipping their seat-belts, Ia forced Seeu on the back of the backseat, using the shorter blonde as her pillow. There was no point in resisting. Ia was stronger than her and if she didn't want to break contract, she couldn't scream for help either. Letting it happen and trying to not pay too much attention to what was happening was the best thing she could do.

Sliding her hands under Seeu's shirt, moving up her bra, Ia was more entertained by the despair in the blonde's eyes than the actual making out. If her personality hadn't been as horrendous as it was, she might not have bullied her quite as much. Still a **lot** and maybe she'd have let her enjoy the sex a bit but she wouldn't be quite as fiendish as she was now towards her.

Playing with Seeu's small breasts, she bend down, licking her cheek. "Get your hands moving." Her voice was just a whisper in Seeu's ears, who looked more apathetic with every passing moment, her hands automatically moving over Ia's butt, fondling, groping. After living together for a few days, Ia had started to use every chance she had to force Seeu into sleeping with her, knowing exactly how much it tormented her.

Pulling Seeu's shirt up, the bra shoved up above her breasts, Ia created a thin saliva trail all the way from her navel up to her breasts, briefly sucking on her nipples. Letting out a small moan, Seeu's face turned red and a single tear ran down her cheek.

Ia glanced at the driving mirror. The driver wasn't looked. She couldn't be bothered to fix that. She could always just lie and tell Seeu later that he was watching them and masturbating to the sight of her bare chest.

Continuing her assault, Ia put some psychological pressure on Seeu. "Open your mouth." She knew that Seeu hated kissing her more than anything else, even the sex. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't space out during it. Ia would notice and force her back into reality.

Sliding her tongue into Seeu's mouth, Ia relished in the moaning that the girl could no longer suppress. Fondling the blonde's breasts a bit more, her nipples starting to stand up, nice and perky, Ia slid her hand all the way down to where Seeu's skirt ended, going below it and rubbing over her panties. Breaking the kiss for a moment, she whispered in Seeu's ear. "You're not wearing the lace ones I told you to wear." She had turned the poor girl into her complete toy. She had picked out her outfit today as well. Since it was quite hot, she let her get away with wearing a scarf to hide the hickey.

"Someone... could see..." Seeu was horribly embarrassed. Ia had bought a lot of fancy underwear, using her as a dress up doll, making lots of embarrassing pictures. She always found ways to blackmail and force her into things she didn't want to do. After a dozen of those actions, Seeu was starting to give up on protesting.

"I'll punish you later." Rubbing over her panties faster, Ia opened her mouth, her eyes clearly telling Seeu to get to it. Initiating the kiss with a horrible look on her face, Seeu wished she could just switch off her thoughts and memory.

Their tongue kiss raging on, Seeu couldn't keep up when Ia slid her fingers under her panties, creating a lewd sound rubbing over her wet love spot. She hated Ia with all of her soul but that wouldn't change her body reacting to stimulation at all. Moaning louder, their kiss breaking again, she felt Ia's fingers move away and into her mouth a few seconds later. "Get me wet."

Seeu was saved by the traffic breaking up. With the car driving again, Ia clicked her tongue. She didn't get off nearly as much as she had wanted to but by the way Seeu looked, she was very much feeling horrible right now.

It was her punishment. Some people never learned how to be a reasonable person. While she was very much capable of being a normal person, Seeu didn't seem to quite grasp what it meant to have a surface personality. Tormenting her whenever she did something deserving of it, Ia was growing quite fond of the whole tormenting deal but not particularly Seeu. She would have preferred if Seeu had bigger breasts. It would give her a few more ways to tease her.

But now that she was in Japan, she would say goodbye to that for a while. She couldn't give less of a shit about Seeu when she was about to see Yukari. She knew where Yukari was staying and once the staff had made sure she checked into the hotel, she would give Seeu the pass and get out. Optimally, she would get Yukari to come with her to Korea, rent her an apartment close to her own and see her every day. Ah, she couldn't wait. Her mind was so full of Yukari that she spaced out a little.

Seeu was fixing her clothes in the meantime, feeling incredibly horny and disgusted at the same time. Finally getting to the hotel, their bags coming with a different car, Ia handled checking in. While Seeu did speak Japanese fluently, she didn't like to use it, at all. She hated everything about this_ moe-moe-kyun_ infested pile of shit, in her own words.

Confirming her room number, Ia threw the key to Seeu. "Go get to the room and wait for our bags. I have things to do." There was an unprecedented happiness in her voice. Seeu knew exactly where she was going. Seeing her sister.

Going up to their room, opening the door, Seeu wanted to walk straight back out. It was a single double bed for couples. Why, for all that was good, why did the world keep screwing her over? Sitting down, she took out her cellphone. Ia had made her register the number of her _partner_ as speed dial one. It kinda felt like her phone had been contaminated. It was only barely past noon. Hopefully Ia didn't get back for the night.

Locking the door, Seeu was still feeling horny. Thankfully, these high class rooms came with their own bathroom. Maybe a long and relaxing bath would get her to think about something that wasn't horribly depressing.

Letting hot water into the tub, Seeu stripped. Taking off the scarf, she saw the hickey that Ia had left on her. Throwing her shirt and bra just on the ground, taking off skirt and panties next, she looked at herself in the mirror, naked. Why did a cute and beautiful girl like her have to put up with the abuse from Ia? She could have any guy or girl she wanted. Touching the hickey, Seeu covered her mouth, feeling a strong wave of disgust overwhelming her. The urge to vomit was so strong she crouched for a few seconds, holding on to the sink with one hand. She'd never forgive Ia for everything she had done to her.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Lily... wake up..." Trying to wake up the blonde, Haku didn't know what to do. The girl was sound asleep on the floor, snoring slightly, the microphone in her hand. Practice hadn't gone very well. Miku had trouble and so did Lily, who wasn't able to keep the pitch at some parts. Haku had come in early, Miku was still at school while Luka and Gumi were at work, to try and practice a bit. She was, out of everyone, having the least problems since her parts weren't very hard but she still wanted to get better.

The blonde looked rather uncomfortable on the ground and Haku hesitated. She wanted to at least get her on the big couch on the other end of the room, a courtesy of Luka's wallet and Kaito's manpower, but was it really okay for her to just touch Lily? Wouldn't she get mad if someone like her carried her?

She did call her beautiful a few times... and that she was really kind and considerate even though it was hard to notice. Kneeling before Lily, Haku fidgeted for a while longer, stacking pros against contras on whether she would make Lily made if she picked her up. Eventually, she figured that even if she got mad, she would be grateful that she didn't wake up on the cold floor.

Picking her up the only way she knew, the very same way she had seen Luka carry Miku, the princess carry, Haku was so very careful that she moved almost in slow-motion, Lily staying sound asleep during it. Halfway to the couch, Haku accidentally looked at the sleeping face of the girl that had her head resting against her shoulder. She had thought so before, but Lily was really beautiful. She didn't just have a great voice and looks but she was also really kind.

Haku's heart started to beat a bit faster and she worried it would wake up Lily. Almost at the couch, the blonde suddenly moved, slowly opening her eyes. The first thing she saw in the modest light of their practice room was Haku's face. "That's a nice sight to wake up to." Grinning, Lily needed a few seconds to make sense of what was going on. "Did I sleep on the floor?"

Nodding, unable to get out even a single word or move any muscle, Haku felt like she was going to collapse like a house of cards any second now. She would be angry, she was going to be angry that she touched her without permission!

Lily was great at picking up on what people were feeling. Haku had started to talk more clearly in the last few days, but she was still very much shy, meek and overly worried over everything. To find herself being carried to, likely, the couch by the very same Haku was a surprise. Reaching out and gently poking Haku's cheek, Lily put on her brightest smile. "Can you get me to the couch? I like being carried by beautiful girls." Maybe she overdid it a little. Haku's face turned so crimson red that she looked completely drunk. The girl took only one step forward before she started to lose balance. "Haku."

She was going to yell at her, Haku knew it. Closing her eyes and waiting for the inevitable outburst, she already regretted trying to help, trying to be useful. Shivering in fear of Lily stopping to like her, Haku waited and waited but nothing happened. Opening one eye, carefully, both of Lily's arms were wrapping themselves around her neck.

"Don't be nervous. See, I'll help you keep balance." Still smiling, Lily had talked to Miku about this. It didn't remain a secret to anyone in the band that Haku was feeling save around Lily, much more so than anyone else, Miku and Neru excluded. After talking it over, Lily had permission, from Miku, to get close to Haku if it would help her become more of a normal person.

Almost crying, Haku stopped when Lily caressing her cheek with the back of her hand. Lily was so nice to her that she couldn't take it. Taking the last few steps toward the couch, Haku put the blonde down, instantly trying to get away, embarrassed to the core. But Lily had other plans. Maybe she and Miku didn't share the exact same definition of _close_ but she felt it would really help Haku if there was something who showed a bit of interest in her.

Gumi was still in love with someone else, Lily could see that. And the way it looked, she wasn't going to give up any time soon. So there was no evil in her pursuing someone else that was catching her interest. Haku was very beautiful but her personality was a little screwed up. If she could help her overcome the trauma that Miku had told her about, Haku would be a wonderful girl that anyone with a brain would want as a partner.

Holding Haku back by grabbing her wrist, Lily yawned a little. "Can you sit with me for a bit?" Lily was usually a lot bolder than that, but with someone as emotionally fragile as Haku, she had to hold back a lot.

The silver haired girl was no stranger to love and she could tell that she starting to feel things for Lily that she knew would never hold up. There was no way Lily would ever care about her that way and she also had Neru. Feeling doubly bad because of those things coming together, Haku looked really depressed.

"Please?" Lily tried to look as innocent as she could and Haku gave in, sitting down next to Lily, incredibly nervous. The only people she ever got close with were Neru, in a romantic way, and Miku, who she looked up to as someone who protected her. Lily didn't fit either of those.

Moving a bit closer to Haku, resting her head against the shoulder of the failed songstress, Lily wasn't quite sure how to proceed. From the way Haku acted, she had absolutely no confidence in her looks or personality. It was hard to approach and get her to open up like this. "Do you dislike being close to me?" She knew that it was the opposite, but forcing Haku to admit it was a step in the right direction,

"No... just... aren't you angry? I t-touched you... without permission."

Lily groaned inside. How could that woman be so terrifyingly adorable? She wanted to push her down and hug her. And do a few lewd things to her, but that was mostly based on physical attraction. Holding all of that in, Lily grabbed Haku's hand and put it against her cheek. The skin of the insecure woman was really soft, despite her habit of drinking away her depression. "You can touch me all you want. I'd never get mad."

Trying to pull her hand away, embarrassed by Lily's bold actions, Haku also felt really happy inside. Lily had never lied to her until now and she was really honest about what she felt. If she said she didn't mind being touched, she really meant it.

"Can I use you as a lap pillow? I'm still..." Yawning loudly, Lily looked a bit drowsy. "like this."

Haku couldn't even talk. Lily? Use her lap as a pillow? **Her **lap? What should she do, not even Neru had ever asked her to do that! Nervously, Haku nodded by accident, covering her bright red face behind her hands. Feeling Lily lay down, her head resting on her lap, Haku's heart was ready to explode.

It didn't take long for Lily to fall asleep. Haku smelled really nice, even if it was a very odd smell. Like the aroma of a high class bar, it was calming and classy. Smiling while she fell asleep, Lily grabbed one of Haku's hands, intervening their fingers.

A good three hours later, Haku had spent over two hours fidgeting and being overly nervous, exhausting her enough to make her fall asleep as well.

"You're not allowed to get mad at me anymore for saying they look good together." Luka whispered to Miku, grinning from one ear to another.

"I admit it." Sighing, Miku got closer and poked Lily's arm. "Wake up."

Slowly opening her eyes, Lily felt so relaxed that she thought she had spent the night at a spa. "What?"

"Enjoying cuddling with my cousin?" Miku had _agreed_ to Lily getting close to Haku but she wasn't happy about how she did it. Lily had a giant damokles sword hanging over her head. If she hurt Haku, it would come down in the form of Miku's anger.

Fifteen minutes later, Lily was tickling Haku's cheek until the girl woke up. Luka and Miku were doing maintenance on their instruments in the meantime. "Haku, wake up." Getting the silver girl to slowly open her pretty red eyes, Lily felt a sting in her heart. She had completely taken a liking to her over the past few days. Gumi was pretty too, and very nice, but Haku was free, unlike her green haired roommate. She would eventually convince Miku to let her make a serious move when Haku got more comfortable with the situation.

"Lily...?" Haku was a bit drowsy but quickly remembered what had happened and blushed.

"The others got here a while ago." Getting a bit closer and whispering, Lily smiled. "Don't worry, I was already up when they came in. I told them you took a short nap after practicing." Showing her wide grin to Haku, Lily nodded towards the back of the room. "Let's start practice."

Gumi arrived another fifteen minutes later, having gotten caught up at work. And for the first time since they had started four days ago, they finished the entire song without a single hiccup. Gumi had practiced hard and so had Miku, not wanting to be the one responsible that they couldn't play.

A little bit exhausted Lily suggested that they do something else. Spending the next hour jamming, Lily commented on how much everyone had improved, especially Miku and Gumi. She praised Haku as well, for being more experienced than everyone else, including Haku.

Taking a break in-between, Lily went out with Luka to buy food. Driving through the street, on their way to a fast food place, Luka turned off the music at some point. "You look pretty smitten with Haku. I didn't take you for the type to be into older girls."

"Come on, Luka, you can't tell me you never imagined her naked. Not with those curves."

"Don't tell Miku. She'll kill me." Laughing, Luka had done the imagining when she first met Haku but never really again after Miku had made clear how protective she was. Not to mention, she loved Miku more than anything else in the world. "Are you hoping to get together with her?"

"If I can. She is really fragile and I never really dealt with someone like that, at least not while being romantically interested."

"Romantically interested? Aren't you a bit early to say things like that? You've only really known her for a few days now."

"How long did you know Miku before you wanted to start dating her?" Lily had a dirty smirk on her face.

"Touche." Finding a parking spot, Luka got out of the car and waited for Lily. "But Haku isn't Miku. Do you really think this is a good idea? I'm going to support your decision but if Haku ends up hurt, there will be hell to pay because of Miku."

"Don't you think it's sad to just leave her like she is now? She's so easily embarrassed, so meek and shy, it makes me sad more than anything else. And look at how happy she gets when I compliment her. It's like the sun rises in her own personal world of dark skies."

"Well, she went through a lot. I can understand that suddenly being praised by a good looking girl that also sings well is hard for her to handle." Getting into the shop, Luka and Lily waited in line. "What about Gumi though? Weren't you interested in her?"

"Hypothetically, if I didn't pursue Haku, I would be open if Gumi made a move on me. But her feelings are occupied. I'm not the type to chase after her, knowing it's not going to work. I'd rather remain close friends to her."

"Did you talk to her about Haku?" Luka was slightly impatient. She didn't like waiting in line, and the place was packed.

"There's nothing to say. She sees how I'm around her and she thinks that I'm doing something good, helping Haku to be more confident. I told her what if she wanted me and her to be a thing, she would need to move on it."

"We would make the worst soap opera crew ever. Not enough unnecessary drama." Laughing, Luka and Lily finally got to order.

"I prefer it this way. Drama would just make it even harder to get to know the real Haku beneath all the worrying and embarrassment." Lowering her voice, Lily smiled. "I turned into a total sucker for her eyes. It's not even one of those _I'm so in love_ things, it's just that I have a thing for them now."

"So you don't love her?"

"Of course not. Saying that not would be lying through my teeth. I barely know her and her real personality is still buried beyond all that trauma. I'll know if I love her when I get past all that."

"What about her? How do you think she feels about you?"

"I honestly have no idea. Haku doesn't talk much and she's always being considerate. I think she likes me a lot more than she likes you though."

"That's not achieving anything. Although at least she doesn't seem to be afraid of me anymore." Getting their order, Luka paid and handed half of it to Lily. "I like a burger after exercise."

"Do you think I should try feeding Haku some fries?" Lily grinned at the thought.

"Go for it." Luka didn't think it was too pushy. She sometimes fed Gumi some fries too, and there was no attraction between them at all.

"Crap, I'm smiling just imagining her blushing face. She's so adorable like that."

"You got hit really hard by her charms, Lily." Getting back in the car, both of them laughed.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Walking into her apartment, Yukari was suddenly grabbed from behind by someone. Two slender arms wrapped around her waist, they held on tightly to her. She recognized the whisper in her ear from a long time ago, and it was creeping her out.

"_Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari, Yukari."_

There was only one person in the world that would act like this. The lack of breasts she could feel on her back further convinced her that it was her. The hands of whoever had grabbed her from behind were wandering all over her body and someone was wildly breathing onto her neck. With a single strong elbow check, Yukari got rid of the attacker, forcing her on the ground.

Putting down her bags, Yukari turned around, knelt down and grabbed the cheeks of her attacker. "Ia, what are you doing here?" Looking into her sister's eyes, Yukari had a very unpleasant feeling. After all those years, Ia was still obsessed with her? And by the looks of it, it had gotten **worse**, not better.

"I'm here to see my beloved angel." Swooning, Ia took her sisters hand, rubbing her cheek against it. "Ah.. this sensation, I missed it so much... I knew you're the only one for me, Yukari."

Pulling her hand away, Yukari sighed. Her sister was completely hopeless. "I told you years ago that I'm not interested in sleeping with my own sister." Getting up and trying to walk away, she was immediately grabbed by Ia for the second time. "I said-"

"There is no need to be shy, Yukari." There was a weird overtone in her voice. "I know you can't accept me while I was your sister. But those pieces of trash that were our parents changed their name and I'm not Lia anymore, I'm Ia now. It's all okay now." Yukari couldn't see it, but there was an insane glint in Ia's eyes.

"That doesn't change a thing! You're still my sister, so get off me!" Trying to wrestle free, Ia had a surprising amount of strength. "Let go, Lia!"

Hot air being blown on her air, Yukari shivered. "It's Ia. Not Lia. That little sister you knew died when you ran away. I'm a different person now. But my love for you never changed. I _want_ you, Yukari. _I need you. You're the only thing that matters to me_."

Yukari was completely creeped out by her sister. She didn't expect her obsession to get this bad. Feelings her sister's hands slide under her jacket, moving over her breasts, Yukari tried to force her off. Hitting her in the stomach with her elbow again, Ia went down for the second time. "Stop it or do you want me to hurt you?"

Looking up at her sister, Ia sighed. "Don't worry, Yukari, I'll take care of you." Whistling, two burly men came walking out of the bathroom, both in suits. "I don't know what made you become all weird and refuse me, but don't worry Yukari, I'll fix it." Nodding, the men grabbed Yukari, who had not even a snowball in hell's chance to get away. "Put her into the car. Carefully! She's the most important thing on the planet!" Getting up, Yukari licked her lips. "Wait." Walking up to them, she touched her sister's cheeks before laying her arms around the purple haired girl's shoulders, forcefully kissing her.

Flinching and separating right away, Ia covered her bleeding lip. She had **bit** her! Something bad must have happened to Yukari to make her behave like that. But she would fix it all in due time.

Getting dragged away, her hands getting tied behind her back, Yukari would have never imagined Lia would go as far as actually kidnapping her. A big black van was parked down the street. Getting thrown inside, it was virtually a prison cell. A very luxurious prison cell, but still a cell.

The entire back was covered by a gigantic mattress with some shelf space at the outer walls. The separating wall between the driver's seat and her cell didn't even have a window, only a small sliding cover. Where had she gotten the money to organize all of this?

Trying the door, her hands still tied behind her back, Yukari fell backwards when the door suddenly opened, right into Ia's arms. "Did you come to your senses, Yukari?" Her voice was utterly sweet. Taking Yukari into the back of the van, hit the separating wall twice and the motor started up. She needed to get back to the hotel eventually. At least it would be easy to slip out at night and spend her time with Yukari. "Yukari... Yukari... you look even more beautiful than in the photos and videos... ah... I can't get enough."

"You're sick, Ia." Her sister had gone completely insane. Kidnapping her, tying her up? What was she thinking?

"Love sick, yes. I love you so much, Yukari." Taking off her shirt, Ia licked her lips. She could still taste the blood of when Yukari had bit her. She had to make her remember just how much they loved each other.

Taking a piece of cloth from one of the shelves, Ia covered her sister's mouth with it. "You must be so confused after being so long without me, that's why you bit me... but don't worry, I'll fix everything. Just leave it to me." Taking off her bra, Yukari's nipples were already perking up, as stiff as rocks. Seeing Yukari right in front of her, Ia couldn't keep herself at bay any longer. Stripping her sister, unable to take off all her clothes due to the way she was tied up but taking them off far enough to make her lay bare on the bed, Ia swallowed. Laying on top of her sister, her fingers danced over Yukari's soft skin. It wasn't like she remembered. It must be because she was living on the street and not bathing enough. But she would take care of that too.

Licking Yukari's nipples, playing with her small breasts, the tall blonde was panting hard. "Yukari's breasts... Yukari's nipple... Yukari's soft skin... Yukari's eyes... Yukari's hair... Yukari's fingers... Yukari's beautiful legs... Yukari, Yukari... I love you so much." A bizarre look in her eyes, Ia put herself on top of her sister. "_I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you._" Stroking her sister's purple hair, Ia missed the frightened look in Yukari's eyes and mistook it for something else. "Ah... you're so overwhelmed by my love... it's so cute."

Yukari was genuinely frightened by how out of control Ia's obsession had gotten. If she had known it would end like this, she would have compromised and dated her or at least slept with her occasionally. Shivering under Ia's touch, she couldn't help but eventually start to feel turned on. No matter how much she didn't want to, it was a simple reaction she couldn't suppress indefinitely.

Moaning into her gag, Yukari hoped she would get a chance to talk Ia either out of this or compromise. If being raped while tied up was the alternative, she was ready to compromise. It would be a lot less trouble that way.

"Your voice is so cute and graceful and noble and pure... ah... it's making me wet." Ia moved down, her tongue reaching her sister's crotch. Her rare, naturally purple hair was the same color even down there. Teasing her older sister's clit, Ia slowly licked over her lower lips, feeling ecstasy from tasting her love juices. Trembling, Ia paused, breathing hard. "Yu...ka...ri..."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Coming back, Luka and Lily found something really surprising. Miku and Gumi were shaking the room, literally rocking out like one of those crazy death metal bands, Haku among them. They were listening to one of the CDs that Luka had brought with her over the past few days, _Alsatia_ by _Galneryus, _the opening theme to an anime that Luka liked.

Turning off the music, all three girls looked up, realizing that Luka and Lily had come back with their food. "I didn't know you liked death metal, Miku." Luka could barely contain herself. "You looked great, banging your head like that. Very authentic."

"Oh shut up!" Blushing, Miku walked over to her partner and snatched the food out of her hands. "We were listening to some CDs and wondered what it would be like to make music like that!"

Lily, who was with Gumi and Haku by now, grinned wide as well, both of the girls blushing. "I would buy a concert ticket to see you two do that again. Especially you, Haku. With your silver hair and your red eyes, you looked absolutely badass, playing like that."

"B-badass?" Haku didn't quite know how to react but Gumi came to her aid.

"She means really cool and aggressive." Gumi had thought the same thing.

"You girls might have just found our perfect disguise." Luka grinned wide. "I want in on this too, so let's pick that back up after lunch."

"No." Miku started to pout. "You're just gonna make fun of me."

Luka poked her cheek. "Silly, I'm being serious. Think about the music we make. Would anyone ever expect to see us in a band like that, behaving all aggressive?"

"Are you going to talk me into this no matter what? Because if you are, I'll give up right here. It's stupid of me to try and out argue you."

"People know what we look like so just putting on a visor isn't going to get us anywhere. But what if we were to dress like a real metal band? I can't think of anyone that would recognize us that way."

"I don't mind dressing up." Thinking about it for a moment, Miku started to frown.

"You like the idea, admit it."

"Fine. I like the idea of dressing up all spiky and with girdles and stuff. But I'm not gonna put on makeup."

"Some painted nails, lipstick and eye shadow won't kill you." Luka was already thinking of applying the makeup. She would have bet on Miku looking very intimidating and cool when everything was done. There was no way people would recognize her.

"You're enjoying yourself, aren't you? But don't think you'll get off easy on this! You're going to do the makeup for **everyone** if you want this. And you'll get the clothes."

"Tyranny!" Luka protested out loud, much to the amusement of their small audience.

"You picked your lot. Now stick it out." Walking past Gumi, she pulled the other green haired girl with her. "We got a table, stop eating while standing."

"Yes, mom." Luka laughed when Miku threw her a leer. "**Yes**, mom." Getting going, it ended with one of them having to stand. Instead, Lily switched spots with Gumi, sitting on the outer end.

Getting up and pushing Haku into the seat instead, Lily stood still for a moment, before whispering something to the red-eyed woman. Turning into a tomato for the tenth time that day, Haku lowered her head, a nod so timid that Lily could barely see it. Squeezing herself onto Haku's lap, she took the pack of fries, turned sideways and fed Haku.

Miku almost dropped her burger at the sight. About to say something, she felt Luka's hand on her leg, the pink haired songstress slowly shaking her head. Lily looked like she was really enjoying herself and Haku didn't object even once, even though she looked mighty embarrassed.

"You were talking about clothes earlier, right Luka? Dressing up for the stage?" Mindlessly playing with a fry before giving it to Haku, Lily whispered something to the silver haired woman while waiting for an answer from Luka. _If I get too heavy, poke my back_.

"Mostly things you can get at a specialized shop for metal music. You know, black dresses, laced boots, fingerless gloves, spiked heels, plated girdles, all that stuff." Stuffing her face with a cheeseburger, Luka still kept an eye on Miku, who was eying Haku's behavior.

To Miku, Haku looked really happy if also equally embarrassed. Neru usually took care of her but she probably didn't tempt her into things like that. It must be a new experience for Haku and she seemed to enjoy it.

"How are we gonna pay for it?" Lily worked part-time, two jobs, but both of them only twice a week for six hours each. She made peanuts compared to Luka, Gumi and Miku. Of course, Haku didn't make anything since she wasn't working.

"Those things won't cost the world. We're already renting this place and bought instruments, so that's hardly going to make the cut much deeper." Luka didn't mind putting up some money. "Since you and Haku are working so hard, I'll pay for you two." Looking to Miku and Gumi, Luka sneered. "Our green overlords surely have enough money of their own."

"That was a nice try, Luka, but your idea, you're buying." Nonchalantly stating that, Miku continued to eat in peace.

"I actually know a shop that is maybe five minutes walking distance from here." Gumi just recalled it. "They opened a few weeks ago and they're spread out over two floors. We should find everything we need there."

"Want to do a general rehearsal after we come back? It should give us a good idea of what it'll be like to be on stage." Luka wasn't worried about her wallet, but it was high time she would get paid again. She didn't like having less than 20,000 Yen on her.

"We're going right after lunch?" Lily didn't expect that they would actually go out. "I don't mind. What about you, Haku?" Trying to feed Haku another fry, the silver haired woman tried to answer at the same time, the fry dropping out of her mouth. Catching it, Lily quickly shoved it in her own mouth. At that moment, Luka was sure that a switch inside Haku was about to short circuit and she'd overheat.

"I'm fine with going..." Her answer was very timid but she was actually looking forward to it. She hadn't bought new clothes in a while. And dressing up was kind of fun.

Miku went with the majority decision and less than fifteen minutes later, they were inside Hagane, a specialized shop for rock and metal related clothing. "I actually like this stuff." Luka went through a few things. "Wow this is nice." Checking the price tag she added in her thoughts something else. _And expensive_. "Okay, pick some stuff you like and dress up. We'll do checks on each other."

Lily took Haku away while Gumi and Miku tried to advise each other what would fit and what wouldn't. Luka was on her own. A good twenty minutes later, Luka was also the first to be done. Finding Miku, who was holding a few pieces of clothing and waiting for Gumi to finish changing, Luka posed. "And?"

"Who?"

"Oh come on." Grinning, Luka made her breasts bounce. "You recognize **that**, don't you?"

"What am I, an old man?" Miku rolled eyes. Taking a closer look, she inspected Luka's choice.

A mixture of open vest and corset, ending in a feathered collar around her neck and even more feathers at the bottom end, leather bracelets with spikes, a elbow length plated arm warmer with more leather armbands at the end. Black gloves with just a little bit of skin at her wrist, she was flashing a **lot** of cleavage, the corset including a crimson red bra. Below the waist, she was wearing an ankle length skirt with a feathered end. The skirt was closed by a black cord that went through sixteen holes. Two long leather straps, all black, just like the skirt, hung vertically downward from her waist, one of them sporting over a dozen metal rings. A black and a white plated girdle around her waist, Luka opened up the skirt, flashing thigh-high black boots, spiked leather rings at the top.

"You look... in a way, amazing." Miku was impressed and a little annoyed at the same time. "I'm not sure I like the flashing of cleavage."

"I did photo shoots in a swimsuit before. This is nothing." Luka turned once, revealing that the long skirt had a complicated golden magic circle printed on it. There was also a chain hanging from one of the girdles at the front, connected to the same girdle at her back.

"I would never get the idea you're Luka Megurine, seeing you like this. Well, with a visor or some makeup at least." Miku was confident that Luka could pull off deceiving everyone like this. There were countless people who dyed their hair to look like Luka so that was really nothing special to worry about.

The curtain went away and Gumi showed herself, seeing Luka standing there as well. "If I didn't know you were here with us, I wouldn't guess that its you, Luka." Chuckling, she thought that Luka overdid it a little with the bracelets on her arms but it was quite good looking on her.

Gumi wore an gray open vest with a standing collar, miniature studs embedded in it. Beneath that, she was, similar to Luka, flashing a bit of cleavage with a dark blue leather bra. Red leather cords and a single chain around her neck, dark goggles with orange tinted lenses rested above her breasts, tied to the open vest. Wearing nothing special on her arms beside a simple light brown arrangement of leather cords tied around her left upper arm, Gumi wasn't as overloaded as Miku. She had gone short boots with high heels, making her a few centimeters taller than Miku. Wearing black half-pants, plated with metal studs all over the place, Gumi also sported a single girdle with metal spikes around her waist.

"Rebel Gumi." Reaching out, Luka completely messed up Gumi's hair, making it look and unkempt. "Super rebel Gumi!"

"Jeez Luka, we're just here to shop." Trying to fix her hair, Gumi looked into the mirror and was satisfied. She could show herself on stage like that.

"Any sign of Lily and Haku?" There had been a second part to that sentence but Luka didn't dare to say it. Miku would hit her. _Maybe they're making out in the changing room_.

"You called?" Walking up to them, Lily received the exact reaction she had wanted. A skin-tight top, bringing out the rather decent size of her breasts, the parts where the sleeves would be were in a zigzag cut. There was no cleavage flash at all, but she was sporting a midriff with the bottom of the top having the same zigzag design as the sleeve cuts. A single ring was attached to her collar, two loose chains dangling from it, dancing over her breasts. Identical arm warmers, reaching from elbow to wrist, they were plated, just like Luka's, her arms completely free otherwise. Wearing black hot pants, showing off her good figure, a single girdle was fastened on it for decorative purposes only. Small studs on the rim just before the legs, leg warmers were attached to the hot-pants with a strap, studs on the rim of those as well. Baring only a little skin above her thigh-high and reaching all the way down to her ankles, again studs on the rim, she was wearing elegant black leather shoes with a heel.

"I think we may have a winner. Where did you leave Haku though?"

"Changing room. I didn't want to peek on her. So, do I look all evil and ready to bust someone's jaw?"

"I think you look really cool." Gumi would never be able to call Lily evil, no matter what she wore. She knew her too well for that.

"Settling for really cool then. You two look pretty damn good, too. Wow, Gumi, I like the cleavage." Grinning, Lily pointed at both of the girls flashing their breasts. "You too, Luka." Noticing the leer, Lily flinched. "Don't kill me, oh overlord of deadly glares."

Rolling eyes, Miku went into the changing room herself. "Peeking will be punished with gouging out eyes."

"You have the devil queen attitude already down pat, Miku." Laughing, Luka walked around a bit, getting used to the boots. Gumi followed and Lily went back to check on Haku.

"Haku, are you doing okay?" Hitting the curtain to make it flutter, Lily still didn't peek.

"I... can't go out... like this." Fidgeting around inside, in full outfit, Haku knew she couldn't possibly leave like that.

"Can I take a look?" Lily waited patiently for over ten seconds before she started wondering if the silence meant no.

"If... you promise not... to laugh." Haku was surprised when Lily virtually barged into the room.

"Why would I laugh at you?" Taking a look at Haku, Lily quickly closed the mouth that was standing wide open. Briefly shaking her head, Lily looked at herself. "Wow, I feel inadequate all of a sudden. If we let you on stage like that we have to watch out that the audience doesn't storm us to ask you out."

Haku was wearing a skin-tight black top that was supposed to be closed by a zipper in front but her large breasts didn't quite let her. She was showing less cleavage than Luka and Gumi but it was more impressive than either to look at. Over the top, she wore a silver jacket with long sleeves. The jacket didn't have a zipper or buttons but black leather belts in front. While the black top just barely covered her breasts, the jacket reached down to her navel. There ere additional leather belts around her wrists and upper arms. Her big ribbon had been exchanged with a large skull shaped hairpin that kept her hair in a ponytail but extended her front bags a lot. Wearing black pants, a red girdle with studs on it hanging diagonally over her hips, several dog tags attached to the pants where the girdle hung the lowest, the pants reached all the way to her shoes, silver in color with a small heel and a pointed front.

"Crap..." Staring at Haku, Lily had to fight her urges with all of her might. "Seeing you like this is... really turning me on."

"I'm... turning you on?" Haku looked slightly confused but the way Lily behaved gave away that she was honestly feeling that way. "Then... do you... do... you..." Her voice became so faint that Lily couldn't hear her. And she couldn't get any closer without losing control.

"Lily? Haku? You **have** to take a look at Miku! She's our queen alright!" Luka's voice reaching the blonde, she quickly retreated out of the cabin.

"I'll be down in a moment. I'm bringing Haku with me." Poking her head into the changing room again, Lily looked apologetic. "Sorry Haku. I was a little... overcome by how great you look in that. Come out, if anything, the others will really praise you because you look stunning."

"R-Really?" Haku wasn't confident enough to go out on her own. Reaching out her hand, Lily caught on quickly, took her hand and pulled her out. To Haku, it felt like someone was dragged her out of a dark room she had stayed in for years, out into the light.

Going down, Haku and Lily had been on the second floor while everyone else was down on the first, they saw Miku and Lily felt the sudden urge to kneel before her and pledge her loyalty. Doing just that, letting Haku go when they were there, Lily knelt. "My dark queen, your word shall be my command."

"She looks the part, doesn't she?" Luka grinned dirty. Miku was, out of everyone, flashing the most cleavage.

A leather collar around her neck, she wore a special type of dress, a zipper was placed in front and currently showing off all the skin between Miku's breasts. She wasn't as big as Luka or Lily, more around Gumi's level, and it looked really good on her. The dress was giving the impression of having crudely been stitched together at the sides but those were just decoration. The front ended over her skirt, at the middle point of her hips. The backside of the dress extended all the way down to her ankles, like a long mantle.

Wearing two long arm warmers, both were decorated with leather bracelets and studs. On her right wrist, she also wore a double row spiked bracelet. A girdle made out of machine gun bullet replicas hung around her thin waist, crossing with an almost black leather girdle. A second zipper for the dress, splitting the dress over her skirt, was just below them.

Wearing a black skirt with zigzag rim and a dark blue stripe above the rim, Miku was showing only very little skin on her legs. Her thigh-highs were covered by three leather straps each, heeled boots whose shaft extended all the way to the leather straps beneath. Her hairstyle remained the same but her hair ties were changed to black squares. She very much looked like the leader of the group.

"Miku might have the best fit but Haku definitely looks the best." Lily got up, turned and knelt before Haku this time. Taking her hand, she kissed the top of it. "If Miku is the queen, Haku must be the court sorceress."

"You're getting a little caught up in your role, Lily." Gumi watched Haku almost melt away. "But you look **really** pretty and cool at the same time, Haku." Complimenting the silver haired girl as well, Miku and Luka joined in.

"Anyone want to try something else?" Receiving no answers, Luka watched Haku eye Lily's back for a bit before smiling. She had totally and completely taken a liking to the girl. "Go get changed then and bring your stuff to the front, I'll pay."

Returning to the second floor, Lily and Haku were alone for the moment. "What were you trying to say in the changing room?" Lily's voice was very low, making sure that nobody else could hear her.

"I... no-nothing." Haku didn't have the courage to say it out loud. If only Lily had moved **for** her that one time. She was feeling attracted to Lily. With the new outfit, she had become a bit excited over her new look. She knew it was horrible of her to feel that way when she already had Neru but Lily was really helping her become better at handling people. She hadn't been this happy in years. And that made her feel even worse, since it meant that while Neru made her feel good, she didn't do it as well as Lily did.

Down on the first floor, Miku was the first to have changed back. Waiting outside Luka's cabin, she wondered about Haku. "I swear, I could never get her to wear something like that. Lily really is a powerful influence on her. I wonder what it is about her that makes her so approachable for Haku."

"Honesty. From what you told me, Haku was traumatized because people lied to her. It really boils down to that. Lily speaks her mind, loud and clear... Miku can you come in and help me? I can't get the skirt open."

Putting her things on a chair, Miku went inside. Luka had already taken off her top but seeing her naked breasts really wasn't anything unusual for Miku at this point. Kneeling in front of the skirt, Miku undid a knot that had somehow ended up in-between holes. "There." Going back out, Miku thought about what Luka said. "I think it's more than that. Lily knows exactly what she can say and can't say to Haku. Maybe she had experience with someone like Haku?"

"At any rate, they're definitely crushing on each other. Haku was eying Lily the entire time and Lily looked like she had just been shocked with a stun gun when they came down. I just hope they don't rush things. We were fine, but Haku is a bit special."

"Lets not think about Haku and Lily having sex. She is still my cousin. It's weird."

"Don't be a prude. You could even legally marry your cousin if she was a guy."

"I prefer legally marrying you if we can, one day."

"Are you proposing?"

"Not today."

As Luka came out, so did Gumi. Lily was still upstairs, waiting for Haku, who had trouble getting out of the skin-tight top but she didn't dare to offer help. She needed something cold to drink before she could come into direct contact with more than just Haku's hand.

Paying for their stuff already, Luka would need to go to the bank and get money the next day. Ten minutes later, all five girls were on their way back to the practice room. It didn't escape three of them that Lily and Haku avoided looking at each other.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Several hours after getting kidnapped, Yukari was finally alone. Ia had touched, licked, smelled, observed and rubbed every centimeter of her whole body. Passing out after the whole ordeal, she had no idea what time it was. Two dim lamps kept the inside of the van lit but by the temperature of the walls, she figured it must be in the evening.

She didn't enjoy being raped by her sister. Nobody that was right in their mind would. It wasn't as bad as being raped by some random guy since Ia was being very gentle and caring but that didn't take away from her fear. Ia's obsession had reached a point where she couldn't just _deal_ with it anymore. Trying to do that had gotten her kidnapped right away.

The smart decision to make would be to make a deal, fake going out with her and make a run for it. She didn't want to send her sister to prison for kidnapping among other things, so running was her only option. But even if she asked her, right now Ia had no reason to accept her deal.

Yukari was sad that her sister had turned into a criminal. Whether it was out of misguided Love or not she didn't care. Years ago, Ia had already shown tendencies of obsession. Crawling into her bed, trying to shower and bath with her, taking her clothes... she had always hoped it would go away when she left and Ia would become a normal person.

To her surprise, the backdoor opened just as she thought that. Ia was there, crawling into the van. "I rented the room right across the floor. It must be boring in here." Undoing her ties, Ia whispered in her sister's ear. "Now I can visit you as much as I like. Ah, I'm feeling so excited."

"Why are you doing this? Taking me against my will, forcing me to sleep with you?" Yukari tried to pick her words carefully but her disappointment clearly came through.

"You're still confused." Taking Yukari's hand and kissing every single finger, Ia stared at her sister. "We **belong** together. We should never be apart. You're the only one for me, Yukari."

"Did you ever think about trying to make me like you the normal way?" She had to get her on the track to a compromise somehow.

"Like dating and stuff? But we're way past that." Kissing Yukari's cheek, Ia licked her skin for a bit. "We're lovers, and we'll always be."

Pushing Ia away, Yukari reversed their roles, getting on top of her sister, grabbing her shoulders. The burly men made attempts to stop her but Ia just raised her hand. "At least try to think like a normal person! Do you think I'll be happy if I'm imprisoned for the rest of our lives?" Yukari wildly shook her head. "I hate being locked up! You're doing the same thing my parents did to me! Take away my freedom and order me around as their personal _thing_!"

That had a very noticeable effect on Ia. Staring at her sister in disbelief, she grit her teeth. She never, ever, wanted to be like her parents. "But you'll leave me if I don't do this... I need to be with you, Yukari... I can't be without you..."

"So you take away my freedom and make me your possession? That's no different than what our parents did! It is even worse actually!"

"**Don't say that!**" Yelling, Ia completely lost her composure. "Don't compare me to them! **I** love you! **I** would do anything for you! You're the only thing in the world that I care about! So don't put me on the same level as those monsters!" Ia was tearing up. She was smart enough to realize what she was doing, even if she was doing out of love.

"Let me go. Come to my apartment. I'm not the person you knew two years ago. Talk to me, get to know me, ask me out on a few dates... try to make me love you like a normal person! Don't force your will on me! Loving me means you'll be able to respect my freedom, too! Otherwise you're just abusing me to fulfill your own fantasies!"

Torn between reason and overflowing love, Ia started to lose control of herself, haphazardly moving around, staring in different corners of the van. Covering her face, she hit Yukari's shoulder. "I... I'm not like our parents. You... you can go home. But if you run away from me..." Ia showed her face again, a terrifying glint in her eyes.

"If I run away," _And you catch me_. "you can do whatever you want. It'll be my own fault then." Getting off her sister, Yukari was relieved that this had gone so smoothly. Turning Ia's love for her against herself had been a great move.

Seeing her sister about to leave the van, Ia grabbed her hand, holding her back. "Kiss me. Kiss me before you go." The one thing she wasn't able to experience with Yukari until now. Kissing her would always result in Yukari biting her so she didn't try more than twice.

"Only one." After everything Ia had done, a kiss wasn't a big price to pay for freedom. Pulling her sister up, the purple haired girl gathered her courage. Leaving her eyes open while Ia closed hers, their lips touched, Ia greedily storming into the kiss with so much passion that Yukari was overwhelmed.

The soft, wet sensation of Ia's lips on her own, she was able to forget for a few seconds that they were sisters. It wasn't any more unpleasant than kissing Cul. Breaking off when she felt Ia trying to deepen the kiss into a tongue play, Yukari raised her finger. "That is for when you made me really like you."

Gritting her teeth, Ia lowered her head. "Fine..." Watching her sister get out of the van, Ia quickly left as well. "Yukari!" Shouting after her, they were parked in an empty lot behind the hotel, Ia needed to tell her something. "I love you! I will always love you! And I won't let anything come between us!"

She would see about that. With a lot of time, she might get used to Ia and her obsession but it would be a giant bother to train Ia into respecting her freedom and will. It would be much easier to gather her things and make a run for it. She had found her once, but only because she stayed too long in one place. If she kept moving, there was no way Ia would ever find her again.

But it stung a little. Ia loved her so much, it was a pity she was her sister. She was cute but her personality had always been a little weird. But there was no way she would give up her freedom. And knowing Ia, any restraint she was showing right now would go down the drain the next time she felt overwhelmed by her love.

It was time to get away. Far, far away.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Loud music booming through the practice room, all five of them were trying a little harder than before. With Lily in the center, Miku to her right, Luka to her left, Gumi behind and Haku to the right of Gumi, they made an intimidating group.

Lily had needed to convince Haku to change back into her outfit for a general rehearse and to everyone's surprise, she had actually done it. Once changed, Haku got a little more confident, as if the clothes were giving her a boost. There was some truth to _clothes make a person_.

Approaching the end of the track, Lily secretly spied on everyone for a moment. Miku and Luka were doing good, both of them in a goth look, similar to her own but much heavier. Gumi and Haku tended a bit more to punk rock with their outfits but they still fit in well with the rest. Their performance was better than before, too.

Haku specifically wasn't just playing the keyboard, she wasn't looking timid while they were playing, something that changed the moment they stopped, returning to a timid woman that got easily embarrassed. Lily was still being cautious of Haku. Back in the cabin, she had almost lost control. If she had just gone and kissed her right there, things might have gone to hell on the spot. She didn't want to put the whole band in jeopardy just because she couldn't control herself.

Shouting the last line, Lily spun around, with Gumi, Miku and Luka hitting the last notes together. All of them were a bit exhausted, as usual, but looking a lot happier than normal. "That was awesome. If we practice this a few more times, we're set to at least play this on stage."

"I would pay admission just to see Miku bounce back and forth. I need that on video." Luka's mischievous grin earned her a leer from the green haired goth queen.

"Who was it that couldn't keep their hands off me when we went to change? I think that outfit is bringing out your perverted side a bit too much." Miku didn't **really** mind but it was fun to tease Luka a bit.

"You always say I'm acting perverted, so there's no difference at all then?" Smirking, Luka looked to Gumi, who was resting in her chair, happy that she had gone for something she could move and breathe in. Luka and Miku would have had hell, trying to play drums with heavy arm warmers like those.

"Haku, want me to walk you home?" Lily offered while the others were busy with each other. "We can go like this if you want. I think it would be a great way to get used to others seeing you."

"I don't know... it's really embarrassing..." She wasn't quite as timid as the normal Haku but still much more so than a normal person.

"There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You look so great that I'm putting the keyboard between us so I don't jump and hug you." Lily's heart beat a little too fast, even considering she had just sung a three minute forty seconds track. She was fully aware that she was totally going to fall for Haku at this rate. She didn't mind that she was starting to like her a lot but it was happening too fast. She needed to hit the brakes and get to know the woman better before drowning herself in attraction like this.

"Do... you think so?" Haku was getting used to blushing like hell whenever Lily complimented her. In fact, she was starting to like it just a little bit. It made her feel confident and wanted. The way Lily looked at her helped. It was the same way Neru looked at her, just more intense.

"Are you walking her home, Lily?" Gumi stretched, yawning. "Want me to cover dinner duty?"

"Yeah, would be great if you took over. I'll switch with you tomorrow then." Looking over her shoulder, Miku and Luka were still teasing each other over their outfits, Luka seemingly proposing a lot of makeup things and Miku rejecting them all. "Want to practice a bit more before we go, Haku?"

Nodding, Haku looked happy. She wasn't good at talking to people or good with people in general. She easily stuttered, talked to timidly and slow and wasn't good at making decisions by herself. But when they played music, she had a clear job to do and she was good with the keyboard. It helped her overcome the feeling that she was useless. And having Lily by her side made her feel wanted, not just not useless but **wanted**.

Neru did the same thing in a different way. But with Lily it was more... bright. She couldn't play music with Neru and she could never tell anyone about her relationship with her half-sister. But with Lily, she even got to see Gumi and Miku. She was even starting to not be afraid of Luka anymore. She was suffering from depression and an alcohol problem but she wasn't stupid. Haku knew that Lily was helping her a lot. More than Neru did. But she felt bad for starting to have some feelings for her. Neru had been there for her all these years. It was like stabbing her in the back.

"I'm going on ahead." Gumi, not bothering to change clothes, left her drumsticks and grabbed the bag she had put her old clothes into. "Just be back before nine, Lily. I don't want to eat too late."

"Understood!" Saluting, Lily grinned.

"We'll head off too. I have school tomorrow and Luka has work." Miku didn't feel very good about leaving Haku and Lily alone, but Luka insisted on it. She shouldn't play mama bear for Haku for her entire life, or so Luka said.

Within five minutes, it was just Lily and Haku. Sitting on Gumi's chair for a bit, Lily looked at Haku. "You have so many reasons to be confident, Haku. You're incredibly considerate, very beautiful, a good musician and very kind." Lily felt that she had to use this moment to say some things she knew she shouldn't say when the others were around. "My heart was beating really fast when you were carrying me."

Unable to even look at Lily, Haku stared at her keyboard. She wasn't uncomfortable being told that, but it made her feel bad for Neru.

Getting up, standing behind Haku, Lily slowly took her right hand. No hug, no forced physical contact between them other than Lily holding Haku's hand. "I'm not here to **help** you, Haku. Nobody asked me to **be** nice to you. I like you and I say what I say because I want to."

"I know." No stuttering, no timidness. A clear answer. Standing there, holding Lily's hand, Haku smiled. "And I'm... I'm happy you're here." Squeezing Lily's hand a bit, Haku turned around, a few tears in her red eyes, a big, bright smile on her face.

~~~ End of Concert XVI ~~~


	17. Love and Trust

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XVII**

_**Love** and Trust_

She was so dead. Miku would **definitely** kill her, or worse. Thinking about how much time the girl spend with Luka, **worse** was definitely the likely option here. Her mind wasn't fuzzy and she didn't have a sudden loss of memory and she still didn't manage to think of a way to get out of this unscathed.

_Waking up because something tickled her nose, Lily saw the world through a silver curtain. Or more specifically, a silver shutter, giving her glimpses of the real world beyond. Seeing the instruments, Lily realized that she was still in the practice room. Right. She had kept practicing with Haku, after having a **moment** with her alone. Taking way too long and taking a break before going home, she told Haku about herself, both of them sitting on the couch, relaxing, and Haku even told her a few things, like what her favorite food was, what type of clothes and shoes she liked, mostly trivial things but it was a start._

_That explained the silver shutter. Putting hair strands out of her face, Lily found herself laying on the couch, Haku in front of her. Due to the limited length of the piece of furniture, she was **really** close. And her cellphone was vibrating. Pulling it out, carefully, she had eighty-two missed calls, over seventy of them from Miku. That had her wide awake. Rising up, Haku was still peacefully asleep next to her. They were both fully clothed and there had been no alcohol or anything overly romantic. The last thing she remembered was talking about a trip to Kyoto she did once on her own, on a whim, before she briefly closed her eyes. And here she was._

_But who would actually believe that after how she acted around Haku? They would definitely not believe her and accuse her of seducing the red eyed woman. She could swear on that. Looking at the sleeping Haku, she had her back turned towards Lily, facing the back of the couch while Lily had been facing the instruments, some of Haku's long silver hair falling over her head._

_Getting off the couch, Lily meticulously checked her clothes and Haku's back, from a safe distance, for any evidence of **anything** having happened. But there was nothing, absolutely nothing. They had merely fallen asleep at the same place._

_Calling Luka, who immediately answered with "How bad?" was not how Lily had wanted to start her day._

"_Nothing happened! We stayed behind, practicing, we got talking and-"_

"_You **didn't**. Please tell me you didn't do anything to her. I love Miku and have a good grasp on how to reign in her anger, but that would be way out of my control." Luka was sounding genuinely worried._

"_We got talking and we **fell asleep**. Nobody even took off any clothes! No touching, not even any romantic moments or traces of trying to create one. The last thing she said was that she prefers scrambled eggs over sunny side up. Not exactly a declaration of love."_

"_Neru called Miku this morning, saying Haku didn't come up. Miku called Gumi and learned you didn't come home either. She's been trying to get a hold of you- hold on, I'm talking to her- No, you can't just- Miku, stop-" The connection broke off._

Back in the present, Lily decided to wake Haku up for starters. Crouching in front of the couch, she slowly shook the girl by her shoulder. "Haku. It's morning. Wake up."

Turning over, more than half asleep, Haku only opened one eye, a very blurry image of a blonde being in front of her. "Neru...?" But that wasn't Neru's voice. Blinking a few times, yawning and finally opening the other eyes, Haku realized she was looking at Lily. "Lily?... how...?" Looking quite timid, Haku suddenly rose up, backing up to the other end of the couch, shocked when she realized where she was. "H-How did I... get here?"

"You fell asleep on the couch when we were talking. So did I, by the way. **Nothing happened**." Lily needed to make that absolutely sure. "We only slept next to each other, fully clothed. No touching." Lily thought she saw a spark of disappointment in her eyes when she said the last word. "Miku and Neru have been going crazy. She has school today so I don't think she'll show up, but could you call her and home to tell them everything is fine? Before they lynch me."

"I... don't have a cellphone..." Haku was still coping with the situation, trying to get a decent grip on how exactly she had just fallen asleep. Practicing so much had really worn her out but to fall asleep... was she really feeling that comfortable with just Lily present?

Handing Haku her own cellphone, Lily used speed dial three, one being Gumi and two being Luka, and it began ringing.

Taking the phone, Haku held it to her ear, looking a bit meek and awkward, using the cellphone of someone else. With a clicking noise, Miku picked up. "**Where are you**? **Where is Haku**?" Her voice was very much vibrating with impending doom.

"Miku..." Responding, the tension on the other end seemingly evaporated. "I only... fell asleep... on the couch in the... practice room. I'm fine..." Waiting a few seconds for an answer, Haku furiously blushed "No, I have... all my things." Raising her voice a little, she blushed even more. "Lily is not like that!" A clear cut answer with no hesitation, Haku was defending the blonde.

Listening to Miku for a little longer, Haku nodded twice. "Okay...You'll call Neru? Okay... Bye." Miku hung up. Haku was not looking forward to getting home and explaining things to Neru as well. Her half-sister was extremely protective of her, much more than Miku. If she told her she had spend the night with another girl, even if absolutely nothing happened and it was just an accident, Neru would make a big fuss.

Sighing heavily after hanging up, Haku looked at a distraught Lily. "Is either of them gonna lynch me?"

"Miku wouldn't do that..." Handing the cellphone back, Haku felt a bit unwell. They did change back into their normal clothes eventually but they were all sweaty now. And the only change of clothes at hand were those they had bought in the Hagane shop. "I'll... go change." She was still horribly embarrassed wearing those, but not so much that she would keep her smelling clothes on until she got home.

"I'll change out here. Don't worry, I won't peek." Lily tried to get back into a good mood. She didn't want Haku to be the only one wearing her _outfit_. It would bolster her confidence a little and make it less embarrassing if they were both dressed like that. "Want to get breakfast afterward?" She didn't have too much money on her, but it would be enough to get something to eat at a family restaurant or something similar.

Five minutes later, a very uneasy Haku was coming out from behind the separating wall, wearing her stage outfit. It was just about eight in the morning now. "It looks weird... doesn't it...?" She still lacked the confidence to calmly walk around in it.

"You look great. Tons of women wish to look as good in this as you do." Lily was wearing her own outfit and running her fingers through her hair. There were a **lot** of silver hairs mixed in. Not too surprised since they had slept back to back. "There is a family restaurant not too far from the Hagane shop. You okay with going there? There won't be many people this time of the day." Exposing Haku to the general public was a necessary step for her to gain some confidence. But she needed to take it slow. A full house would surely crush her.

"You really... don't think it looks.. weird?"

"We're in Tokyo. Akihabara isn't **that** far. Most people will just think we're doing cosplay. And you look great in this, just believe me." Grinning, Lily exhaled slowly. She was still trying to get used to seeing Haku in this. Seeing it right after waking up could easily replace coffee for her.

"Thanks." Smiling softly, Haku waited for Lily to take lead and head out. Locking the room before going up, Lily had trouble resisting the urge to look back, checking if Haku's breasts would bounce when she went up stairs. But she managed to keep her curiosity in check for once. Out on the street, much to Lily's pleasure, a lone cosplayer walked by on the other side of the street, dressed up as a protagonist from a JUMP comic.

"Told you." Smirking, Lily took Haku's hand, pulling her along for a few meters before letting go, sticking very close to her. Seeing herself and Haku in the window of a clothing shop, she wondered what other people thought of them. Would they think they were a couple if she got Haku to cling to her arm?

Shaking off her thoughts, it was still too early, both figuratively and metaphorically, to be romantically interested. Physical attraction to the beautiful woman was something else entirely, though. "Was this the first time you slept somewhere not at home?"

"In.. a long time, yes." Haku noticed that really very few people were looking at her or Lily, despite their getup. The streets were packed with people still getting to work and still, she didn't feel too uncomfortable with Lily by her side. The girl was really helping her a lot, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was horribly betraying Neru by being a bit smitten with Lily.

Their hands swinging back and forth a little, Haku felt the desire to just take Lily's hand for now. She was meek and timid, depressed and a bit too inclined to drink, but she wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what she was doing, what Lily was doing and that she was developing feelings for the blonde.

Neru was always looking out for her but because of how protective she was, she never let Haku push anything even a little. She had gotten a lot better around Neru herself but there was practically nothing different when other people came into play. Lily was helping her with that, a lot. And she was really attractive. Neru wasn't ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but Lily might just be a bit prettier. Thinking that, Haku noticed that she had been staring at Lily for a while now and quickly averted her eyes, blushing. "Do you... sleep out often?" Haku wondered if a girl like Lily got around, in many ways.

"I used to sleep over at friends all the time but I never got into any relationships that went all the way." Paraphrasing her way around _I never had a lover_, Lily didn't want to make Haku feel uncomfortable. She had slept with a few girls on occasion, but it was never more than a fling. The longest relationship she had ever had lasted three weeks and ended at the making out stage.

Lily quickly focused on something else before starting to imagine what it would be like to make out with Haku. Her pretty large breasts would- "Look, that's the place. What do you usually eat for breakfast, by the way?"

"Normal things. Rice, eggs, maybe toast." Occasionally, Haku could speak very clearly around Lily, for example, when the answer was something she absolutely didn't have to think about. Passing the street, Haku followed Neru into a nearly empty family restaurant.

Lily decided to not sit near the window so Haku wouldn't worry about people gaping at her. She tried to be as considerate as possible when dealing with the silver haired woman while still pushing her along. If she was always holed up at home, she would never get better. The place looked just like any other family restaurant. A few potted plants here and there, clean seats and tables, a small bell to call the waiter on the table and most of the sets back to back with another table. Parquet floor and the register in front, it was very much a standard shop.

Both of them looking through the card, Lily yawned and called the waiter. "Do you want coffee too?" She would need to borrow some money from Luka after this.

Thinking about it for a moment, Haku nodded, if only because she wanted to drink coffee with Lily, not because she really wanted the black drink. Since she always stayed at home, she could usually just nap after breakfast, too.

Giving the waitress their order, Lily yawned once more, looking a bit tired. She had slept well, which was a big surprise to her, but she was feeling a bit out of it. When had they fallen asleep? When she decided to take a break before going home, it had only been nine. At that hour, she would have walked Haku home, too.

"If I could, I'd start all of my days with looking at you." Lily needed a handful of seconds to realize why Haku blushed so heavily after hearing it. Blushing a little herself, she smiled. "That came out a lot more direct than I thought it would."

"You like... being with me?" Haku was a little confused on that. Neru loved her and that was why she spend a lot of time with her half-sister. But what reason did Lily have?

"Well, for one thing you're lovely to look at. You don't talk too much either and then... well. I like hanging out with Gumi, Miku and Luka and you're just as fun to be around as they are." She wasn't exaggerating. To her, Haku was a source of fun. Seeing her cute reactions and seeing her try despite being really shy was very enjoyable, in various ways.

Haku looked away, trying to hide her face. She was as fun to be around as Miku and Luka? Haku knew that Lily didn't lie to her, but even so, she was having trouble believing it. "Re...Really?" Putting her fingers together, she got a little nervous. She didn't expect Lily to like her that much.

"Everyone has their own strengths. Miku by herself holds back too much and Luka by herself can be really overwhelming. They balance each other out. Gumi is kind and can be pretty funny. You're not the type to deliver comedy acts or tell jokes but you're always attentive and you don't skip out on answering when someone asks you." Lily watched the waitress come with their coffee.

"I'll take the breakfast set A." Looking to Haku, she was shying away from the waitress. Lily wished she could have touched her hand at the time, giving her a little confidence.

Noticing the look in Lily's eyes, one that wasn't pity or annoyance but caring, Haku gathered her courage. "I'll.. take the same."

"It'll be a few minutes." Excusing herself, the waitress left.

Lily was proud of Haku for speaking up on her own. "We need to get you a cellphone, though." Getting her coffee, it was still so hot that she couldn't drink it right away. Blowing on it a little, her heart skipped a couple beats before suddenly racing when she saw Haku hold the cup with both hands, her bangs slightly hanging in her face, blowing on the coffee. She couldn't say **what** about that scene made her heart race but Haku definitely had an effect on her.

"Lily?" Noticing her look, Haku checked her clothes if she had splashed coffee on them. "Uh... Lily... you're staring..."

Snapping out of it, Lily sat back and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I got caught up in watching you for a moment." Pausing for a brief moment, Lily sighed. "Wonderful, that did sound exactly as creepy as what I did was."

"Its not... creepy. I... its not that... uh..." She couldn't find the right words. Her voice turned to a whisper. "I... don't mind."

"If we get you a cellphone, I'll get a picture of you to show when you call me." Grinning, Lily had to change the topic before the mood turned into something she didn't have the nerve to deal with it. She did have pictures of Miku, looking annoyed, Luka, sticking her tongue out, and Gumi, eyes closed and smiling, for when they called. She would have asked Haku if she wanted to go and shop for one later, but she needed to defuse the situation first and get her home after breakfast.

Drinking their coffee in silence for a minute, Lily started up another topic. "You get along fine with your cousin, Neru, right? What is she like? I only saw her a bit pissed when we were there during the rainstorm."

"Neru is... protective of me. She worries a lot." Haku hated lying to Lily. She was so honest and she couldn't be, not about Neru. "Her temper... can be a bit bad. But she really... cares about family."

"That explains why she was worried about you. Or why she seems to dislike Luka so much. After all, Luka is talking one of her precious cousins away from her home." Lily wondered if she would have to deal with similar treatment, or even worse, if she would date Haku.

Date Haku. That was just a fantasy for now. She knew a fair bit about the girl at this point but by far not enough to justify asking her out on a real date. Until now, she had never dated a woman that was older than her, either. And that was really it. Haku was a woman, not just a girl. She couldn't just take her out to a dance, get close, take her home and sleep with her. If she was going to make a move on her, she wanted to know about her first. Because she was too taken in by her to take the risk of messing things up by acting too quickly.

"What does she do for a living?" Knowing that Haku was essentially a NEET, she had always avoided the topic of what **she** was doing.

"She writes... freelance." It was decent money but without Miku giving in some, things had always been a bit hard. "I wish... I could help... and work." Haku looked rather depressed all of a sudden. But with her condition and personality, not only was there nothing she was really good at, but since she was so bad with people, getting hired would be a nightmare.

"You're working." Lily had a great idea. "The band will, hopefully, bring in money eventually. Miku, Luka and Gumi make a lot on their own, so they won't mind if we split it half and half between us. You're practicing really hard and you play well." Smiling briefly, Lily took a sip from her coffee before continuing. "Not to mention, out of us five, you're the prettiest, so people might show up just for that, too."

Haku spaced out for a moment. "You'll.. pay me?" She didn't really think about that before. She had agreed because Miku needed her and because it was a chance to get out more.

"What are you saying? You're putting it as many hours as me. I'd feel horrible if I didn't split the money with you." That, and she wanted to ensure that Haku stopped feeling bad about not working. If she made money to support her household, it would help her a lot, she was sure of it.

About to cry out of pure happiness, Haku didn't want to cause a scene. If she started crying in public, Lily would look like the villain, and she didn't want that more than anything right now. Holding it back to the best of her ability, she didn't even notice that Lily had gotten up until she felt the blonde's hand on her head, standing next to her. "You're so adorable, it should be illegal."

Shedding a single tear before slightly lowering her head, Haku felt truly happy at that very moment. "I'm happy I... met you. You're so nice to me..."

"Don't make it sound like we're going our separate ways." Grinning, she patted her head a little more. "I need you." She didn't specify _in the band_ for good reason. She wanted Haku to be part of her personal life, too, not just when they were at practice.

Her voice too faint to understand, Haku spoke very quickly and stuttered even more quickly to herself while Lily returned to her seat, spotting their waitress bringing their food. "Say Haku, have you ever cooked?"

Looking a tad surprised, the red eyed woman wondered how Lily had suddenly gotten that idea. "I can cook.. I just haven't in a while..."

"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to eat something you made." Getting their food, Lily looked at western breakfast. A handful pieces of toast, marmalade, margarine, a bit of cheese, an egg and juice. It was a cheap set but that would be plenty for just breakfast.

Starting to eat, Lily noticed by chance that Haku was struggling with her egg. "Cut off the top with your knife." Pointing at her own egg, Lily put just margarine on her first toast.

Eating in relatively silence, Lily was quite thankful for that. She loved to talk over drinks but not over a meal. Finished after twenty minutes, Lily paid and escorted Haku out. "Let's get you home before both Miku and Neru decide to come after me." Laughing, Lily was quite happy with how things turned out.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

It was a hard decision to leave them behind. But in the end, they were still strangers she had taken in. She had no obligation to care for them forever. Having packed her most important things, leaving behind everything she didn't need and just bit of money so the two could go on for a few days on their own, Yukari stood in front of the apartment.

She wasn't looking back. Staying and dealing with Ia was a worst case scenario. The girl was pathologically obsessed with her and it was only a matter of time until something really terrible happened. It was too much of a bother to try and deal with her. If push had come to shove, she might have been able to get into a relationship with her, but not without Ia going through some serious therapy first.

Taking one step forward, Yukari immediately took two back. "Ia?!" Her sister had just come around the corner, smiling.

"Yukari... I knew you were going to try and run. But... but..." Twitching, she really needed every ounce of her self-control to not jump at her. "You said I need to make you like me. So... I'll forgive you for trying to run away." Her smile was extremely forced and awkward. It would be obvious to anyone that what she was saying wasn't what she **wanted** to say, or do.

Yukari was perplexed by this. Taking another step back, Ia took one forward. Trying to outrun her was just going to make her mad and even if she could do it **without** her luggage, she wasn't going to make it on the street with nothing at all. She was trapped.

"I don't think you can handle acting like a normal person around me, Ia." If running was a no-go, she would try to make her give up.

Biting the nail on her thumb, Ia got a little closer to her sister. "You shouldn't run away from everything that's unpleasant."

It stung. Yukari's eyes went wide in rage, her cheeks suddenly feeling like they were on fire, her throat burning. How **dare** she says that to her! "What do **you** know about unpleasant things?! You're just doing whatever you want!"

Getting even closer and grabbing her sister's arm, Ia hissed. "I know everything. I was watching you all the time. I saw how much you suffered! I love you but I'm not stupid!"

"Then why did you kidnap me? Couldn't you see how that's a bad idea?" Trying to wrestle herself free, Ia was surprisingly strong.

"It's been so long since I saw you. Maybe I... maybe I went a little overboard." It was hard to admit but after having a night to sleep it over, Ia had realized that while she loved Yukari, she wouldn't be happy if Yukari didn't love her back. And there were some things she could only get that way.

"A little? You kidnapped and raped me!" Finally pulling loose, Yukari took a step back. She just couldn't figure out what was going on inside her sister's head.

"Lots overboard then! Do you know how I've longed to see you? Talk to you, touch you, hear you, spend time with you? I'm-"

"Insane!" Yukari finished that sentence for her. "Honestly, I was disgusted when you forced yourself on me. How am I supposed to like you, in any way, if I'm constantly being watched by you?"

"Running away despite saying you would give me a chance, is that your idea of dealing with things?" Ia only wanted to be by her side. Why couldn't she be happy about that?

"You're a nuisance. Do you think I **wanted** to make a run for it? I was living in peace until you showed up!"

"Just do what you said you would and you **can** live in peace. With me." She wouldn't give up on Yukari, not now, not ever. She'd do whatever she had to.

"After yesterday I don't want to believe you."

"At least give me a chance!" If she wouldn't do at least that much, Ia would resort to her original plan. It was still better than losing Yukari completely.

She didn't want to. But looking at the alternatives depressed her. Running for it, possibly forever, was a horrible way to live. It would be even more stressful than living with Ia. And she didn't even want to consider alternatives like killing her. She might hate trouble but she would never **kill** her sister. Making her give up didn't seem like it would ever work. And _curing_ her wasn't exactly something that she could do without practically being right next to her all the time anyway.

Putting down her backpack, Yukari admitted defeat. Not resisting at this point was probably going to be the least annoying path to take. She didn't like it. She would continue to try and find a way to get out of it. But for now, she was beaten. "Fine. **One** chance and **one** only." If Ia didn't get herself under control, even prison would be a better choice. "And you can start by not stalking me home."

"I will know when you try to run, Yukari." Ia was too smart to waltz into a trap like that. "Please keep your word."

Walking back to her apartment, Yukari didn't know how she was going to get out of this. Going to the police was useless. She was her sister and she was homeless. They would only laugh at her, even if she claimed abduction and rape. Asking someone on the street to intimidate Ia out of following her wouldn't work either. Ia was a well known idol, if she went to the police, things would be very bad.

Their vastly different living circumstances put Yukari in a corner from which there was apparently no escape. The one and only hope she could hold onto was that Ia would eventually get a grip. But that was like hoping to find the winning ticket for the lottery on the street.

At least she didn't believe in silly things like this being her punishment for running away from home. It was nothing of the sort. Ia was simply crazy, and not in a good way. It could have been worse yet, but Yukari didn't even want to think about that.

Back in Ia's hotel, Seeu was sitting in the bathtub early in the morning, her eyes empty, arms around her legs, she had lived through the worst night of her life. Late that evening, Ia had come back, an expression on her face that scared Seeu. Trying to leave the room and escape, she was caught by the cold-hearted blonde and dragged to the bed.

The next six hours of her life were a haze of going from one unwanted orgasm to another, forced to pleasure Ia and let her have her way. When the taller of the two finally had enough, turned over and went to sleep, naked, Seeu couldn't even walk anymore, her legs so weak that she couldn't stand. Her was not a drop of strength left in her.

Looking at a flower vase next to the bed, Seeu wanted to take it and smash Ia's head in, but she couldn't. Not only because she didn't have the strength to lift the object but also because she didn't have it in her to kill someone. Trying to cry, trying to get it all out, she couldn't even get herself to do that. Instead, she just laid there, depressed and disgusted, feeling empty inside.

It only took a few minutes before Ia rolled over and grabbed her, held her. And it made everything worse. The comfort of being hugged like that was such a stark contrast to how the girl usually treated her that she only realized then how cruelly she was being treated. And still she couldn't cry. There was not a shred of respect or care in Ia for her.

And the worst of it all? She couldn't help but relish the gentle embrace, seek the one moment when she was being treated like a human being, like someone Ia cared about. She still hated her. And she hated herself for **wanting** the embrace. She was selling her dignity and pride for some cheap comfort.

Waking up in the morning, she was alone. Still naked and feeling exhausted from six hours of sex, she managed to get herself into the bath. She didn't have the energy to be mad anymore. It was slowly becoming part of her life. The sexual abuse. The endless bullying. The days when she didn't have to deal with it seemed already far away. And it hadn't even been a month.

To Ia, Seeu was nothing but an object she could use to satisfy various urges. Getting back to her room, there was no sign of Seeu. The bed was smelling so strongly of sex and their love juices that Ia was amused when she thought what the room service would think. Two girls sleeping in the same bed and then it smells like this? No doubt they would assume she and Seeu were a couple.

She had always liked bullying her to some degree but lately it had become much more fun. Using Seeu for sex wasn't so bad. It was more fun than masturbating, and if she managed to imagine she was actually sleeping with Yukari and not that Korean bitch, it was even better.

As things were right now, she wouldn't even mind keeping her around as a toy, even if she got together with Yukari. Of course she wouldn't sleep with her anymore, but bullying her was still fun. The funniest part yet was that the girl didn't realize that she was only doing it because she had never learned to stand up for herself when there was someone stronger than her. Being used to having people dance to her whistle, Seeu simply broke down on the inside when that didn't work. Either she would eventually figure it out, or she would continue like this until Ia discarded her.

Opening the bathroom door, she spotted the Korean girl. It was chilly outside this early in the morning so a hot bath was just the right thing. Not saying anything and simply stripping, Ia walked naked over to the tub. Seeu was about to get out, seeing that Ia had stripped, but was pushed back in by the taller girl. "You're not going anywhere." Sitting down behind her, Yukari tightly wrapped her arms around Seeu's waist, keeping her close. She was nothing more but a fondling pillow for Ia.

She didn't say anything. Opening her mouth when Ia was close was just an invitation for her to crank the bullying up to eleven. Feelings Ia's hands move all over her body, most of the disgust from last night came back. The first time, she had puked. The new few times, she had cried, yelled and locked herself in her room. After that, she just kept quiet, as nothing she did ever did her any good.

"It looks like you finally learned how to keep quiet." Ia grinned in a devilish manner. Twisting Seeu's nipples a little, she got the girl to wince. "Your voice is the only decent thing about you. Let me hear it." Crudely groping her small breasts, Ia forced the girl to become horny, excited, starting to pant. "That's better. Now kiss me."

Forcing Seeu to turn, she almost laughed out loud when she saw the glassy look in her eyes. Her lips slightly parted, her tongue glistening wet, Seeu's face was giving quite the lewd appearance. Starting a crude, sloppy kiss, Seeu behaved no different than a robot, who was doing exactly as her master had told her.

Her spunk, sass and bitchy behavior were all things of the past when she was around Ia. The girl turned her into a spineless, depressed wreck. A rush of disgust went through her when Ia slid two fingers between her legs. Her body was starting to become attuned to Ia's touch. Knowing what came next, she automatically moved her hand between Ia's legs, returning the _favor_.

Her mind was numb to the sensations of having sex with Ia by now. Her body reacted but in her head, it was just torture. If she kept quiet and obediently did what Ia wanted from her, then things usually didn't get out of hand and she would be free soon after. The last time she had resisted, Ia had tried out candle wax bondage play on her. It was so painful that she had wet herself in the end.

"I liked you more when you were resisting." Taking her fingers out of Seeu and sticking them in her mouth next, forcing her to lick them, Ia was a little bored with how obediently she behaved. It wasn't fun if she just went along with it.

Just following the same procedure as usual, Ia came long before Seeu, who was then left sexually frustrated and even more depressed and disgusted with herself. Hoping for Ia to hug her after she obediently did what she was told to was starting to become an unwanted impulse she felt every time they had sex.

But it never came. It only intensified the bad feelings she felt afterward to begin with. Only when Ia was asleep would she be nice to her, cuddle up and hold her. Looking at the naked back of Ia, who was just walking away, Seeu reached out, desperate for some genuinely loving human contact.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Visiting Gumi at work, Lily had left Haku with Neru, who had made a massive fuss over Haku staying out without telling her. It took only seconds for the silver haired woman to revert all the way back to the timid, shy and meek wreck she had been that stormy day. Lily didn't need to clairvoyant to see that Haku was feeling ashamed of Lily seeing her like that and quickly retreated into her room.

She had nothing to say to Neru that wouldn't result in a fight, so Lily left. The next time she got paid, she'd get Haku a cellphone so she could at least call her to cheer her up. She didn't doubt that Neru cared about her **a lot** but she was going about it the wrong way. Keeping her sheltered from the world wasn't going to help her any. She was over twenty-five, unemployed, and only had a failed career to show. Hopefully she could fix the last two things.

But Lily was worried about herself as well. Was it a good idea to get this caught up with Haku and her life? If things didn't work out, it would be ugly, for everyone involved. She didn't want her friendship with Miku and, by extension, Luka to go _Kaboom_ because she expected too much from Haku.

Telling Gumi that, Lily was given quite the piece of her mind. "You should probably talk to Luka about this, not me." Gumi had two reasons to not want to talk about Haku with Lily. One, Lily wasn't romantically interested in only Haku. What she had said to her on the way to the convenience store during the rainstorm was still stuck in her head. Two, she was annoyed that Lily would actually be thoughtless enough to ignore reason one.

"I figured you would have a better idea since I would date you too if you wanted me to." The situation with Haku was a little different but Gumi was essentially not quite in the same boat but on the same river. Thinking about the analogy, Lily wasn't sure that quite made sense in hindsight,

"My break is over. I'll see you later, Lily." Slightly annoyed, Gumi had just learned that sometimes being lied to would be preferable. Lily was a great girl, but not without her faults. She had just witnessed one of those faults.

Left behind in the break room, Lily got something from the vending machine. It wasn't until a few minutes later that she realized how rude she must have come across. "I'll apologize later." She really had just wanted an opinion on whether she should wait for Haku to take the first step or if she should ask her out.

Wandering around for a bit, she eventually came across Luka next to the stairs that led to the roof. By the looks of it, the songstress was slacking off. "Taking a break?"

"Oh hey, Lily. Sort of. Miku is driving me nuts today." Luka finished her coke and sighed. "She's going on and on about you and Haku. I told her to trust you but she's such a worrywart."

"I didn't think this would blow up to be such a big deal." She didn't feel sorry since it was really helping Haku, but she didn't like the idea of Miku and Luka's relationship suffering because of it.

"She'll stop eventually. So, whats the state of things?"

"Horrible." Lily looked at the ceiling. "I constantly have to remind myself that its not okay to go heels over head for her until I at least know her better."

"You got hit really hard." Luka grinned wide. "She does look really good. I can't say much about her personality though, she's somehow really afraid of me."

"Beneath all that shyness, she's nice, considerate and unspeakably cute. But she really has to fight to get out of her shell. I had breakfast with her at a family restaurant this morning and she was really pressed just to order herself. I didn't think it would be quite that bad."

"But you want to date her, right?"

"Want to, yes. I'm just worried if I **can**. I mean, I know how to act around her and its really not that unusual for me, but I'm not sure Haku can handle a relationship to begin with." Lily leaned against the wall, standing next to Luka. "Even if I can't date her, I want to help her though."

"You would never guess and you didn't hear this from me but Miku is super glad that you're around and helping Haku get her life in order. She won't admit it, though but I can sense it."

Laughing for a few seconds, Lily shook her head. "I never heard anything. But you know, I wish I had a relationship like you do. I'm a bit jealous."

"We sometimes argue or fight over petty stuff, too. We just make up really quick afterward. I can't imagine Haku actually fighting with someone though."

"Sometimes I just want to walk up to her, hug her and tell her everything is fine. Maybe followed by a kiss." Lily hadn't known that love could be so complicated. "I really picked the most complicated one to fall for, didn't I? Not that I regret it in the least."

"Gumi and Haku. Star that is in love with her sister who lives overseas who is also a star and a girl that's a traumatized wreck and also several years older than you. You should go and write your own theater pieces." Luka was just joking and patted Lily on the shoulder. "They're both great girls. Unlike Gumi, Haku is romantically preoccupied though, so it makes sense that you're going for her." _That, and she probably needs the romance to get her life in order_. But Luka wasn't gonna say that. Lily probably knew.

"Is Miku still at school?" Lily didn't exactly feel the need to run into her, not until later that day when they got together for practice.

"She said a test in English was coming up and wanted my help. So we'll have to see if we can make it to practice today. Worst case scenario, you and your two crushes can practice alone."

"If you're trying to set us up so we _talk things over_ I really don't appreciate that, Luka. Gumi knows exactly where she stands and Haku... well, fine, I don't know if Haku does." Rolling eyes, Lily noticed the ugly smirk on Luka's face. "Stop teasing me."

"Sorry, force of habit. I'm a bit short on playing with Miku lately because of school so I sorta just went for it." Stepping away from the wall, Luka stretched. "I guess I slacked off enough. Time to get back before everyone explodes at me."

"See you later at practice? I'm gonna go home and do some house chores. I'm pretty much on cleaning duty when Gumi is recording." She liked living with Gumi. Even though the girl supplied basically all the rent on her own, she didn't work Lily like a slave. They took turns cooking and cleaning, except when Gumi was working full days.

"Maybe. Gotta see what Miku says." Leaving, Luka yawned briefly and returned to her recording room. "Sorry, took a bit longer than I thought." The entire room was just thinking one thing. _How does getting a drink take longer than one thinks?_

Starting up again, Luka wondered how things would play out between those three. The way she saw it, Gumi would need to make a move before Lily was completely taken by Haku because it was too late afterward. She wasn't in the recording room for long. A staff member called her out because her cellphone was ringing, _Love is War_ playing as the ringtone.

"Miku?" Hearing loud giggling and squeeling on the other end, Luka rolled eyes. If it was what she thought it was, she'd hang up. "Who's there?" She was given half a dozen names within seconds, but she didn't really care about any of them. "That cellphone belongs to Miku. Give it back." Annoyed, Luka hang up. That was the second time that they had hijacked her cellphone and used it to call her at work. Miku needed a second cellphone. One that she kept a secret so she could delete her number from the first one.

On the other end of the line, Miku snatched the cellphone away from a bunch of classmates, who were all overly excited to hear the famous Luka Megurine on the phone. "Stop acting like ten year old children." She couldn't believe them.

"Eh, whats the problem with just calling her? Don't be so stingy and hog her all to yourself." One of the girls complained. _If only she knew how I'm hogging her_, Miku thought to herself.

"Every time you call her from my cellphone, she has to drop work. Do you know what her hourly wage is?" She didn't have one, but Miku didn't care. "I'm assuming you want to hire her just to talk to you next time?"

"Wow, jealous much? We just talked to her for a few seconds."

"For which she had to come out of recording and start the song all over again. We're looking at five to fifteen minutes of wasted time. The next time you snatch my cellphone I'm going to report you to the principal." Miku was plenty threatening on her own. She didn't need to use Luka's fame to do so.

"Tsk. Acting all big just because she got lucky and gets to stand next to Luka." She wasn't making many friends nowadays but those that had been her friends from before knew better than to abuse how close to Luka she was.

She had other problems to worry about than to deal with those girls. An English test was coming up and she wasn't nearly prepared enough. Not only that but she was delaying work too. Regardless of whether she was prepared or not, she would have to skip school and record Akatsuki Arrival the next day, no way around it.

And then there was the issue with Haku and Lily. Neru had called her after Haku had come home but she was still agitated. It took most of her break to calm her down. She knew Lily was being good to her but when stuff like this happened, she felt that Neru's anger was justified. It was one thing to stay out unannounced for Lily, another **entirely** for Haku.

It was difficult to trust Lily. Not because she stayed out one night by accident, but because, similar to Neru, she was very protective of Haku. But seeing her smile and open up really meant a lot to Miku. If she needed any reason to say she was happy to have joined the band, then it was that Haku met Lily.

Class was starting again and Miku switched textbooks. She hoped the recording tomorrow would go over quick. She didn't want to fail the test. It drop her a grade but she still didn't like the idea of her school life suffering under her job. Then again, if she absolutely had to, she would rather drop out of school than give up her job.

The love letters and notes had thankfully stopped but there were lots of rumors of _Magnet_ being more than just a song due to how often Luka came to pick her up at school. They obviously had no proof and the net had always been full of rumors so it didn't bother Miku that much.

She would have to skip band practice that day and get Luka to tutor her. She wasn't looking forward to that. Her lover was the type that would make fun of her for this for weeks. But it was a hard and fast fact that Luka's English was better than hers.

The next three hours stretched themselves as thin as paper but eventually, she was released. Packing her things, she caught a lot of nasty talking behind her back. The very same girls that had been sucking up to her lately. She wasn't surprised. Stopping next to them, Miku gave them a look from the side, not saying anything and only smirking for a second before she left.

Taking the same exit as always, Miku found Luka already waiting for her, being pestered by a bunch of fans. Seeing Miku, Luka switched to CD player, ramped the volume all the way up and pressed start. The very same song, _Alsatia_ by Galneryus, promptly boomed through the area, shooing the fans away, who were covering their ears in pain.

Miku was already used to this. Walking past the fleeing students, some of them looking at her with slight hostility, Miku got around the car and into the passenger seat. The music was turned down quickly and Luka showed her a smile. "I think I'm going to park down the street from now on. I don't want to deal with fans during my private time."

"I have to deal with them even in class. So what did you tell Lily?" Looking at Luka's surprised expression, Miku sighed. "I know you better than anyone else, Luka. There is no way you haven't talked to her after what went down this morning."

"Guilty as charged, I suppose. She met me at work while I was taking a break."

"You mean when you were slacking off."

"Stop reading my mind, jeez." Laughing, Luka took a wrong turn and cursed. "She is heels over head in love with Haku even though she's blocking herself from really accepting it. She wants to know her better than she does now before she is willing to accept she's in love."

"Haku comes with a lot of difficult to deal with baggage so I can understand that. I hope things go well for those two. It would make me really happy to see someone love Haku and care for her in a relationship."

Luka knew better than to make obvious _care for_ jokes at this point. Making fun of Haku was a big taboo she didn't break. The more she heard about her from Miku and Lily, the less she wanted to make fun of her to begin with. Maybe one day she would have enough confidence in herself to deal with a bit of teasing.

"Home? Or are we going to practice? I told Lily we might not show up."

"I need to study. I'll give Lily a call that we're not coming." Taking out her cellphone, Miku speed dialed Lily's cell. But the call never got through. With a horrifying crunching sound, the car was suddenly violently flung around, spinning and finally crashed back first into the wall of a house. The airbags popped at the moment of the impact but Luka was still completely disorientated. Her ears were ringing, and so was her head, and her whole body felt like it was broken. But that wasn't her primary concern. Forcing herself back, leaned against the seat, Luka undid her seat belt and checked on her partner. "Miku? Hey... Miku?!" A very thin trickle of blood was running from the green haired girl's temple.

Luka felt fear like she had never felt before. Panic rose up and completely took hold inside. Adrenaline swept through her veins with such force that she crushed the airbag and got out of her car. The vehicle was completely totaled in the back. A dozen meters away was the car that had rammed them, a small van, the front smashed in, the window broken. But she didn't care about that at all. Hurrying to the other side of the car, Luka took out her cell and quickly dialed for an ambulance. Giving her name, where they were and what had happened, Luka talked so fast that the voice on the other side needed her to repeat everything. Shouting into the cell, Luka said everything a second time.

Her own pain completely drowned out by adrenaline, Luka undid Miku's seat belt and felt her head. She couldn't find any large wound or obvious injuries but she was unconscious. She couldn't tell if it was save to move her. "Miku... please be okay. Please, please be okay." Her entire body was shaking. Horror scenarios went through her head, like Miku being paralyzed or losing her ability to sing, or worse.

It was all a blur what happened next. A tall woman with black hair and hetereochromia asked her to step aside and checked on Miku before moving her out of the car and putting her on the ground. "She's fine. It looks bad but at worst she has a mild concussion and a scratch that is gonna be bleeding for a bit."

Sitting down next to Miku, Luka was still worried sick. She had never before been in a car accident. She wasn't always driving safely, but she was good at driving so she never was in any danger. With blazing anger lighting up inside of her, the songstress went up and looked for the perpetrator.

And she found him. A large man, at least a head taller than Luka and made like a bear, was standing in front of his own car. "You the one in the convertible? Your insurance is gonna cover this, right?" His world turned black right after saying that. Luka's fist hit his face so hard that she nearly fracture the bones in her right hand. Going on his knees, the man cursed and spat blood. "The fuck are you doing?"

"People are injured and all you care about is your damn money?!" Kicking him so hard that he fell to the ground, Luka was about to completely lose it when the same woman from before held her back. Much taller than the man even, she had no trouble restraining Luka. "Let me go! I'm gonna kill that bastard! He could have killed Miku!"

Dragging her away, the woman brought her back to the girl on the ground, next to the broken car. "Stay with her. She's important to you, right? Have you called an ambulance yet?"

Switching back to being worried sick, the adrenaline was slowly dissipating, her own body starting to hurt like hell. Sitting there, holding Miku's hand, Luka suddenly felt incredibly sick. Not five seconds later, she threw up on the asphalt, a few meters away from Miku.

"I'm Ruko. I'm an acquaintance of Miku. You're Luka Megurine, right?" Trying to get her from acting up more than she had already done, Ruko's extensive first aid training came in handy. At one time she had worked to become a paramedic but she wasn't good at handling the really bad cases.

Nodding, Luka returned to Miku's side. The bleeding had already stopped so it really wasn't as bad as Luka had thought. But seeing Miku bleed had really put the fear in her. Five minutes later, during which Ruko had to chase off the attacked man and hold Luka back from attacking him again, the ambulance came.

It turned out that Luka had a mild concussion and contusion in her left arm. Miku woke up on the way to the hospital where they could only find a minor concussion. Ironically, Luka was kept there for observation while Miku would be free to go home. She wasn't going to go anywhere though.

"You're still as pale as a ghost, Luka." Miku was really worried about her. Being in a car crash wasn't something one could just laugh off.

"I was never so afraid for something in my entire life, Miku. I saw you bleeding and I felt my world fall apart in front of my eyes."

Luka was kept in an observation room, occupying one of the many free beds. She would be released the next morning. A doctor had already asked them if they had any relatives to call and Miku had given Neru a call. Haku was already out and had gone to practice after Lily had picked her up.

"You're the one who is being kept here for the night. I just got a scratch. You can't even see it because its under my hair. They said it will sting when I shower but there is nothing to worry about. I'm fine. I'm more worried about you."

"I'm fine as long as you're okay." Having just said that, Miku touched her left arm and Luka winced a little. "Still fine!"

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Miku fought back a few tears. "When I woke up and was in an ambulance, do you know what the first thing was I thought?" Taking Luka's hand, Miku felt really sad. "That something happened to you. I guess we both care more about each other than about ourselves."

"Don't say that like we didn't know." Checking if someone was there, Luka briefly kissed Miku. "I'm just glad you're okay."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Sitting in the back of the practice room, Haku and Lily to one side, Gumi to the other, they were still digesting the news of Miku and Luka being in a car accident. "At least they're not hurt badly." Gumi tried to retain her positive outlook but that was easier said than done.

"Knowing Luka, she'll be joking about this next week." Lily tried to downplay what had happened. It wasn't that they got hurt what was shocking. It was the sudden realization that things could have gone a lot worse. That one or both of them could have died.

Haku was the quietest of the three, hiding her face behind her bangs. Ever since they had sat down and Lily got the call, she had held on to Lily's right hand. She didn't want to be left alone now and Lily was showing no intention of doing that.

Accidents happened and it was always shocking for those that were close to the victims. "Haku, want to go home with us? We won't be practicing today." Lily didn't want to stay here. After getting the news, she just wanted to go home. "Gumi, you're okay with that?"

Gumi nodded twice. She did like Haku, even though only a fellow band member. She was a ice, if very shy, girl and she didn't mind having some additional company right now. "We're all a bit gloomy right now but I'm sure we'll be back to normal the moment Luka shows up tomorrow, as... Luka as always."

"No adjective to fit her, is there?" Lily smiled briefly. Now that was more like Gumi. She was sort of like a backup Luka when things became too serious. "I know it's rough to go and have fun when friends got into an accident, but imagine the hell Luka is going to give us tomorrow if we're still looking like scrooge."

"I'd rather not." Gumi was slightly bothered by the mental image. "But the most I can settle for is watching a funny movie at home."

"Should be plenty. I hope Luka doesn't try and seduce Miku in the hospital." Lily wondered what the nurse would think to find two people with minor concussions going at it.

"You think she is staying with her? Didn't she have a test coming up?" Gumi almost instantly realized what she was saying. "Never mind, this _are_ Luka and Miku we're talking about."

"Should we go?" Squeezing Haku's hand a little, Lily had paid attention to not letting Gumi notice what the red eyed woman was doing. She didn't want to create any stress for either of them right now.

Gumi got up first and took her cellphone out. It was five in the afternoon. Even if they went slowly, they would be home before six, rather early considering the last few days. "Want to get something to eat on our way back or order out?" Forcing herself to move out of her gloomy mood, Gumi wondered for a moment what she would do if she caught word of Sonika being in an accident.

Seeing Haku hold on to Lily, Gumi didn't blame her. Miku was a lot closer to Haku than Lily or Gumi, so she obviously took it harder and needed the additional comfort. In a way, Gumi was even grateful that Lily could provide said comfort. Because she wasn't that good at dealing with Haku.

"Let's just order something. I don't feel like sitting around in public." Lily noticed a quick nod from Haku, who thought the same. "Let's go."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Ia wasn't just totally crazy, she was also much, much smarter than Yukari gave her credit for. Keeping herself under control, she had shown up around noon, picked up Yukari and taken her on a date. Of course, the purple haired girl had not much say about whether she wanted to go at all. Ia did however let her decide where to go. Testing her control, she had taken her sister to the park and taken a very, very long walk with her.

And it had immensely backfired. Beside insisting on holding hands the entire time, Ia was acting surprisingly tame. It smelled like a horrible trap. After four hours of walking, Yukari was beat. She didn't have the stamina she had back when she was an idol. Sitting on a bench, Ia snuggled up to her sister, who was intensely surprised how _human_ Ia seemed now. Nobody that saw them would've expected that one of them kidnapped and raped the other.

"I want to take you to dinner later. Do you have any formal clothes?" Ia was feeling incredible happiness from being this close to Yukari, who wasn't resisting, looking at her in disgust or making snark comments.

"Of course not. I live in an apartment that doesn't even have electricity." Yukari still felt slightly threatened. Ia was really behaving like a normal person, but how long could that possibly last? When was she going to succumb to her urges and jump her? The moment that happened, her _chance_ was gone.

"I'll give you something from me. We'll just have to go back to my hotel later." Ia wondered if she should bother and tell Seeu to get the hell out of their room before she took Yukari there but that was probably not worth the trouble. Seeu wasn't worth worrying about. Their little act was all over TV anyway so Yukari wouldn't get the wrong idea. The thought of Yukari wearing her clothes was like first prize of the lottery. She would treasure them.

With the way Ia was behaving, Yukari couldn't find valid cause to complain. Being treated to good food in a restaurant was something any other girl from the street could only dream about. As much as she didn't like to admit it, there were some advantages to being with Ia, but only as long as she acted like a normal human being. "I'm not going to spend the night at your hotel, Ia."

"Of course not. This is only our first date." Her smile was a little forced but she managed. "I was thinking of going to see a movie with you tomorrow. Any preferences? I'll reserve our seats." She was hoping for a horror movie or a romance, both would set a great mood she could use to get even closer to Yukari.

It wasn't that she was suddenly acting normally. She was pretending to. Deep down, she wanted to do her right now. But if there was a way to make Yukari love her back, she would do it, no matter how hard it was. Because receiving Yukari's love was the very definition of paradise for her. It would instantly make her life complete.

She didn't have any preferences in movies. But knowing Ia, she was rooting for a romance flick that would give her an excuse to get all horny on her. She had kept herself amazingly under control so far but she didn't believe that would last much longer. "Anything except a romance is fine. I don't like their overly dramatic approaches." Her own life was very much plenty of drama right now.

"I'm so excited. To be able and see a movie while sitting next to my beloved Yukari." Smiling wide, she happily sighed. Looking at the purple haired ex-star, Ia got a little closer. "I can't...

And there it was. Yukari was ready to throw her off and make a run for it the moment their lips touched but instead, she felt a warm and wet touch on her cheek. Surprised, Yukari couldn't tell if Ia was playing her or not at this point.

"We should go. You can take a hot bath in my room, too." Having money and fame certainly came in handy when dealing with someone homeless.

"I'll take my bath alone." There couldn't possibly be enough warnings for Ia. Being assaulted in the bath would be very unpleasant. Being able to take a bath in the first place however was something she was actually looking forward to.

"Yukari, you don't need to say those things." Ia wanted to bathe with her. "I'll know when you're ready to share a bath." She was hoping that would be soon.

"I don't trust you yet. True, you're keeping yourself under control, for now, but I'm not going to let my guard down because of a few hours."

Yukari didn't say anything in response and instead just slowly got up before she changed the topic. "Come. It's gonna take a while to get back and I'm starting to be really hungry."

Reluctantly getting up, Yukari wondered how long this mind game was going to last. Whether she would succumb and let her guard down first or Ia screwed up. As things were right now, she didn't even have the faintest idea. But the more time she spend with Ia, the more she realized that she wasn't just plain crazy. There was a lot of meticulous thinking behind it. But she wasn't going to give up just yet. There had to be a way out of this.

Thinking that, she kept holding hands with Ia while slowly returning the way they had come, Ia starting to cling to her arm a little halfway down the path. She would win this game. No matter what she had to do or tolerate. She would win. Because she could take her frustration out on Seeu after all.

Smiling happily, two very different sisters walked through the park, both thinking about out-smarting the other one. One of them seeing the other to return her love, the other wanting the love to stop in the first place.

~~~ End of Concert XVII ~~~


	18. Countdown and Catastrophe

**Writing this while being extremely obsessed with Terraria has probably negatively impacted the quality a little bit.**

**That's why I'll get that out of my system before HMS 19.**

**Additionally, I will be working a collaboration with Nuclear Eggs on a vocaloid yuri sci-fi fic. User 5201554/KuuEggs**

**Chapter 1 will be written by me ( Chapter 2 by Eggs ) and is scheduled to come out in the next few days.**

**Hear my Song!**

**Concert XVIII**

_Countdown and Catastrophe_

Ia was quite pleased with herself. There had been no trace of Seeu when she came back with Yukari and dinner had gone smoothly. She had even gotten a kiss out of it all. She was sad that Yukari had gone back to that run down shack of hers, but it didn't bother her all that much. Returning to her room, she found Seeu on the bed, just staring at the comforter. Taking off her heels and dress, she recalled something their managers had said. That they would have to go back early if Seeu's condition didn't improve and she managed to perform on stage.

She hated to ruin her good mood and taint her memory of the evening by being nice to Seeu, but as things were right now, their live would fail spectacularly. Keeping her underwear on, she turned to the blonde. "I feel nice today, so you can cuddle up with me for the night. Keep your underwear on."

Seeu was so desperate for someone that cared about her that it didn't matter whether Ia's intent was genuine or not. Doing as she was told, she joined the taller girl in bed, her arms rightly wrapped around her waist chest, just below Ia's small breasts. Twitching involuntarily, Seeu felt the other girls hand pat her head, slowly, repeatedly.

After all the abuse, all the torment, rape and humiliation, Seeu was almost beneath herself with happiness that she was being treated like a real human being. Ia's abuse had turned her into a wreck with no self-esteem whatsoever. She had started to think of herself as trash. And she couldn't run away. Even though she didn't care about her job anymore, she couldn't flee from Ia. She was too scared of her to try and escape.

She hated herself for being so weak, for being unable to leave. For being so desperate for affection that she was overflowing with bliss when Ia finally treated her like a normal human being. There was not a shred of her arrogance left. Not a trace of her selfishness. Her personality had been completely turned around by the constant and nearly around the clock abuse over the last week. With no break to ever recover, it just got worse and worse until the torment had piled up so high that who she had been in the past was buried deep beneath fear, self-hatred and despair.

Hugging Seeu, Ia did not care the tiniest bit for her well being. To make her feel better was merely a requirement to successfully go on stage, which she had to do to spend more time with Yukari. Her abuse of the girl had escalated a lot lately. After moving in with her, she just found herself more and more entertained by ruining her life. Stealing her birthday gift from her had been especially funny.

But she had started to wonder what made her be so cruel towards the girl. Her behavior was much like that of a rock now, but she still tormented her. Was it that much fun? It was almost more like a habit now. Patting her head, letting the girl cuddle with her, she pondered what exactly was so entertaining. There were no real reactions anymore. She was just like a puppet that simply let her do as she pleased.

Thinking about it like that, it **was** a little boring. She kept doing it because it had simply become part of her daily life, such as drinking a cup of coffee in the morning. Seeu was nothing more than that to Ia. Some random part to her life that she only kept there because it was too much of a hassle to stop.

Slowly falling asleep, Ia contemplated if she should stop tormenting Seeu for a while. At least until they were back in Korea. But would she even go back? Staying with Yukari was more important, but taking her to Korea would be difficult. No passport and she was essentially a missing person. Going to the police meant she would be brought back to her parents.

Losing her job would cut off her money supply and she kinda needed that to keep an eye on Yukari. She couldn't throw her job down. As important as Yukari was to her, she couldn't stand the idea of living on the street. Or letting Yukari remain there.

If only she could just replace Seeu with Yukari. It would be perfect. Able to act affectionate towards Yukari in public and on stage, it was the best possible outcome. Although she realized that it was pretty much impossible to do.

Yawning, Ia frowned. She didn't want to kidnap Yukari again and forcefully take her to Korea. It would ruin any chance of Yukari ever coming on to her willingly. But as things were right now, she would be forced to go back to Korea next week. No matter how she looked at it, it would be difficult to have her cake **and** eat it.

"What are you thinking about?"

She didn't expect Seeu to actually talk to her. She rarely said anything nowadays after all. Was Seeu getting caught up in the pretense that she cared about her at all? It seemed to have a positive effect, and that what was she needed to make the girl stage ready. "How nice you smell." It was a complete lie. She had almost forgotten that she was playing comfort blanket for the girl. She didn't give a rat's ass about her smell.

But for Seeu, even an obvious lie could make her happy. To hear Ia say that made her feel welcome. Made her feel like she really was being cared about. She had no pride or dignity left that she could lose over this. She just lost herself willingly in being treated well for a change. After all the torment and abuse, after all the cruel treatment, Ia was cuddling with her, treating her like a human being, even being nice. Even if it was fake, Seeu didn't have the luxury to reject it. She **needed** it.

Seeu was not the only one who was desperate. Yukari wanted out of Ia's reach and she had finally figured out a way to do it. It wasn't pretty or legal by a long shot, but there was no doubt Ia would be shipped off to Korea the same day if everything went according to plan. After heading home, she had stopped by in a run down bar that normal people didn't even seem to know it existed.

"You want us to do **what**?" She was talking to people she knew, people that were in the business of selling stolen goods. "Now look, we're friends, but this smells like a job we'd have to see some serious money for." Sipping on his whiskey, a man with a big black hat wondered what in the world she needed that done for. "I'll talk to the guys, no guarantees for anything, Yu."

"I'm going crazy and this is the only way out I can think of right now. You know I can't go to the cops. They'll haul me back to my parents. And imagine the fuss it would make if I suddenly showed up after being a missing person for two years."

"Quiet and peace, au revoir." He looked towards the bartender. "Scotch." Eying Yukari from the side, he sighed. "We owe you for that thing a while back, so I'll see what we can do. Don't expect a miracle."

"You know better than to think I'd expect miracles." Getting up and about to leave, Yukari hesitated for a moment. She was going really far to have Ia out of her life but she just couldn't handle someone so obsessed. Ia had brought this upon herself. "Tomorrow afternoon, then."

Going home, Yukari was exhausted. The next day would be a long one. Luckily, Cul and Galaco were keeping quiet about where she had been the entire time. She had told them not to ask and they knew better than to pry.

In the same building, further up, were three girls that had finished dinner a while ago. And one of them was feeling very much like she was in heaven, a beautiful girl on each arm. Haku had fallen asleep first and Gumi hadn't taken too well to the Italian takeout and was sound asleep as well. Both of them were using Lily as a cushion.

Gumi was not holding on to her but her head was resting in Lily's lap, the blonde's legs completely asleep and numb. But she didn't mind. Gumi's sleeping face was a cocktail of cute on steroids. A few strands of green hair were covering up part of her face and she made cute noises whenever Lily touched her cheek to prevent them from tickling her and waking up.

Haku on the other hand wasn't that cute, but she was... appealing in a different way. Her head resting on Lily's shoulder, she was holding on to the blonde's right arm, so tightly that Lily could feel her large breasts.

Lily regretted so much that she couldn't have both of them. If she had to pick one of them right now, no matter which she picked, she both won and lost at the same time. It wasn't that late yet but the shocking news had hit both of them quite hard.

Trying to get free, carefully and slowly, Lily managed to pull her arm away from Haku. No matter how much she enjoyed the feeling of her breasts touching against her arm, she couldn't endure any longer. Lifting Gumi up a bit and letting her sleep on the couch, Lily stumbled, her legs fully asleep, towards the bathroom. She **really** had to pee.

Coming back a few minutes later, she found Haku and Gumi cuddled together on the couch, occupying the entire length of it. Sitting down in front with the blanket from her bed, she wondered if she should wake them up. Maybe if they were still asleep when the movie was over.

Lily didn't want to have to pick one of them over the other. Gumi had a great personality, was good looking, a first rate friend and a star. Haku was even better looking, completely adorable and brought out the best in her. But life wasn't that easy. Gumi wasn't technically available so her _pick_ was Haku.

And she really, **really**, wanted to just take her to bed right now. But she couldn't. Haku was like a hundred million yen vase. If she managed to get it back home in one piece, it was one hell of a prize. But she was also incredibly fragile. One wrong move and everything could end up in pieces. And Lily didn't want that more than anything.

Getting hit in the back of her head, Haku's arm was hanging off the couch. Taking the chance and locking fingers, Lily just kept sitting there, holding the failed star's hand. She was completely in love with the girl and she had the feeling that Haku felt the same way, to some degree. But there was something else, too.

Haku always backed off when things seemed to progress past a certain point. Like she was scared of something. Just as she thought that, someone called her. She didn't recognize the number but picked up anyway. "Who's there?" She didn't give her number to people without saving theirs, so she knew who was calling. But it could be Luka or Miku calling from the hospital.

Whoever was on the other end didn't say a word but Lily could hear someone breathing furiously into the line for a few seconds before hanging up. "The heck?" Looking at her cell for a bit, she looked through her missed calls list and dialed the number.

"You better have something important to say if you're gonna leave a message." Followed by a beep. Lily recognized the voice but she couldn't put where from. She had met so many new people lately it was hard to put a finger on it. That sassy tone... she just couldn't remember.

Putting her cell away, she turned around and looked at a beautiful crimson, half hidden behind eyelids, that belonged to Haku's eyes. Her heart skipped a beat right there. She had never thought that eyes could be such an attractive part of a girl. "Lily... what time..."

"It's already dark out. Just stay the night. We have an extra bed." She was going to take the couch. A small lie in this situation wasn't going to hurt anyone and getting Haku home this day of the day was going to be a nightmare. Paying a cab would be really expensive and she didn't want to leave her side for tonight.

She just wanted to blurt out how much she liked Haku right then, but she kept it tightly locked up inside herself. Haku wasn't ready to be confessed to. Watching the tall woman fall back asleep, Lily wished she could have swapped with Gumi and cuddle with Haku, even if it meant being asleep and not knowing about it.

Before she came to Tokyo, she had jumped from one shallow, looks based relationship to the next. She wanted to leave that behind. Getting up, letting go of Haku's hand and worming her way back onto the couch by shoving the two apart for a bit, Gumi woke with a sleepyhead expression on hr face. Looking around, pulling her cell from between the couch cushions, she checked the time. "I'm gonna crash..." Yawning loudly, Gumi forced herself up before she fell asleep again, the comfort of the couch and Lily tempting her to do just that, and went to her room. She didn't worry about leaving Lily alone with Haku. If something could have happened, it would have happened already.

"Night." Lily tried to keep her voice down while she looked over the back of the couch.

"Night." Gumi waved briefly before slowly closing her door.

The noise, however quiet, woke Haku up. A little disorientated, she looked up at Lily until she realized she was still at her place. "I should get home..."

"Don't be silly. You said the same thing just a few minutes ago." Poking Haku's cheek, Lily wondered if she was still worried about Miku. "Come, I'll get you in bed." Trying to get up, Lily was held in place by the taller woman. "Haku?"

"Can we just... stay like this for a bit longer?" She wanted to enjoy that it was just them two for a while longer.

"Sure." A big smile showed on Lily's face. Laying her arm around the silver haired beauty, pulling her in a little closer, the blonde got her wish and cuddled with Haku. It didn't take more than a minute before the older girl was back asleep, again. "She's so cute it's illegal." Lily grinned to herself. She had really hit the jackpot this time.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"This tastes like wet cardboard." Luka was trying to chew whatever it was that they served as supposed breakfast in the hospital cafeteria. Miku was with her and only having coffee, knowing that hospital food was usually pretty bad.

"Eat. You're gonna need it later to yell at the other guys lawyer." Miku would miss that car. She had spend some really nice moments with Luka in it and now it was pretty much ripe for the junkyard. "Are we taking a cab home?"

"No way I'm walking. Talking about home, did you think about I asked you? About officially moving in with me?" Luka needed any excuse she could get to distract herself from the disgusting taste in her mouth.

"A little. Honestly, I'd like to, but what if people find out we're living together? Dating, you driving me home from school and playing in an illegal band together is all walking a very fine line. But officially living together... people could look up where I'm registered, so..."

"I wish we could just come out and say we're together. This is starting to be really annoying." Sucking on a straw, Luka emptied the small pack of orange juice in one go. "Yuck..."

"We could talk to the company about it but they're gonna shoot you down, no doubt." Miku would have preferred to be out in the open, too. Of course there would be people that would hate her for being in a lesbian relationship but she really didn't care about those people to begin with. And not having to hide her love for Luka would be a huge burden off her shoulders, even though she had gotten so used to it.

"Speaking of shooting down. I'm betting you lunch that Lily took Haku home with her and something **good** happened between them." Luka was back to her usual self already. She had woken up with a massive headache but once she had gotten herself hydrated, she had felt a lot better.

"One of these days you'll win a noble prize for your nosiness. Or at least set a guiness world record." Miku didn't want to think about Haku too much. She would be extremely happy if her oldest cousin got her life back in order, but she was also very worried that she might get burned. "If she took Haku back, Gumi would be there, too. I can't imagine she'd start anything with Gumi present."

"A three-way? Speaking of-" Luka dodged a head slap that missed her by a few centimeters. "You don't even know what I was gonna say!"

"You were gonna suggest a three-way between you, me and someone else, probably Lily."

"If I was gonna say something like that, I'd rather have Meiko-" Luka flinched when Miku stepped on her foot. "Wow, you're violent! I'm being abused! Domestic violence! I'll fill a report!"

"They'll slap you on the head with the report if you tell them what you said to your girlfriend." Miku pouted. "Meiko, huh? Excuse me for being not as tall and busty as her!"

Luka was well aware that Miku wasn't genuinely mad but she had to pretend that she was or else she really would get mad. "I love every part of your body as is. I picked Meiko because she's older than me and I've never been with an older girl."

"**Excuse me** for being younger!" Miku was trying hard not to smile at Luka's annoyed face.

"Oh come on. Whatever I say now, you'll just counter it with more pouting. I'll buy you an ice later so stop doing that. And don't even do the _Don't treat me like a kid_, routine. No ice for you then."

"Damn you, Luka." Chuckling, Miku slowly got up, taking her cup and going for a refill. The coffee was surprisingly good, not **good** good but definitely not hospital level bad. Getting back to the table, she found Luka had spelle with her pieces of bacon. "Aren't you adorable. Stop playing and eat."

Looking a bit grumpy, Luka picked up a piece of bacon and put it in her mouth. "I wish I could just live off your love for me. Why isn't that nutrition enough?"

Miku blushed a little bit after hearing her say that so casually. "You'd get fat."

"You love me that much?"

"Barrel shaped, two weeks tops." Miku kept giggling to herself now. "Eat. We're not leaving until you had breakfast."

"Demon."

"Stop complaining, how bad can it be?" Taking a piece of bacon from Luka's plate, Miku put it in her mouth. It only took seconds before she was chewing slower and slower. "There is a bakery not too far from here. How does pretzels for breakfast sound?"

"Admit that this is horrible."

Taking the paper napkin that came with the food, Miku spat out the bacon and curled her lips. "It's not even food." Miku shook her head. "Let's go."

Both of them were barely out of the hospital when thunder roared through the sky. "Oh for fucks sake, no rain!" Luka shouted towards the sky. She was thoroughly and completely fed up with rain. But she was in luck. It only kept thundering in the distance and no rain fell for the time being.

Both of them hurried to the bakery to reduce the chances of getting hit by a surprise rain shower. Buying a handful of pretzels, more than enough to have one or two to spare after breakfast, Luka carried the bag, four pretzels inside, while gnawing away on half a pretzel, the other half being with Miku.

Not wanting to tempt the weather, Luka hailed a cap. Giving the driver her address, she leaned back and hoped that she would find a nice rented car until the money from her insurance came in to buy a new one. Even a Luka Megurine couldn't just throw around hundreds of thousands of yen like it was nothing. She had really liked that car, too.

Bending forward, Miku asked the driver to go somewhere else. Her workplace. "I thought about what you said. I'm going to make use of us getting in this accident and tackle this while they're all worried about us." Taking Luka's hand, Miku took a deep breath and smiled softly. "I'll talk them into letting us come clear. I want to move in with you. I want to be seen as more than just _your coworker_."

"One of these days I'll get a heart attack from you being too adorable." Luka was really happy about this. After Miku's birthday party, she had wanted more than ever to just openly show her affection in front of those that weren't part of their small circle.

"They say idiots can't catch colds, I wonder if its the same for heart attacks." Getting softly punched on the shoulder by her girlfriend, Miku and her partner started to play around, poking and nudging each other until even the cab driver chuckled.

Continuing until they came to a stop at a red light, Miku picked up on the news that came from the radio. "Could you turn that up please?"

"Something interesting in the news? Is it about us?" Luka was suddenly curious what got Miku so interested.

"Not us. But someone else in the same business." She swallowed hard.

"_Early this morning, at around 4 AM, the hotel room of the Korean Idol Group U-SAI was bombed. The hotel was evacuated immediately and there have been no causalities or injured, however, both members of the popular foreign group are missing. The police is assuming a kidnapping, capitalizing on the fact they were are on foreign soil. The Korean embassy has become involved and-"_

"Aren't those the two that Lily made us watch on TV?" Luka was very uncomfortable with the idea that a hotel room had been **bombed**. That was something terrorists did, not kidnappers. And a kidnapping was bad enough already.

"Yes. The two that were the main attraction on that upcoming concert." Miku was worried. She didn't realize that there were some people that would go that far.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"**I told you to make it look like a break in! Like a goddamn robbery! Like a stalker crime! Who said anything about blowing the entire floor sky high?!**" Yukari was roaring in anger. "**And then you kidnap them?! You kidnap them?! Seriously? What is wrong with you?!**"

Looking to the corner, two girls, beat up and unconscious, were tied to two chairs. "**Fucking say something!**" Yukari yelled at the leader of that so called _operation_, a girl that was a bit shorter than her, platinum blond hair and golden eyes. She was wearing a goth outfit that was torn in places.

"We didn't expect that they would put up a fight. Things got messy." Looking not the slightest bit guilty, the girl walked over to the tied up Ia and ran her fingers over her cheek. "This one was really fighting like a tiger. I wanna keep her." Bending forward and kissing the unconscious girl, the perpetrator of the assumed terrorist attack felt attracted to the girl. She was totally her type. "I **so** want to keep her." There was an eerie seriousness to her voice. "Can I keep her?"

Yukari wanted to shoot her. But she felt like that would end with her own death instead, if she tried. It seemed completely natural for that short girl to carry around a metal pipe the way she held on to it. "How the hell are you gonna clean up this mess? The police thinks that **terrorists** hit the hotel!" It was only a minor comfort that they were both actually alive and hadn't been attacked by real terrorists. But then again, terrorists in Japan. In Tokyo. That was basically unheard of.

"Let that one go?" She didn't care what happened to the short one. If this has been a better paid job, she would have killed her and gotten rid of the body, but she was basically working for free because the old farts were indebted to little miss homeless over there.

"You need to let **both** of them go! Do you have any idea what is going to happen if the police finds you?!" Yukari was fighting a raging headache. And the desire to just snatch that metal pipe and bash in the head of that stupid bitch that had **blown up** a hotel room.

"I've been doing this for five years. I don't look like it but I'm twenty." Swinging the pipe around, the girl looked on her wrist watch. It was completely black and adorned with gold.

"Oh **come on**! You look fifteen! And that's beside the point! Untie them! Just leave them here, they can find their way out." Yukari needed to fix this, somehow, right now. If Ia knew that she was behind this, even though it had gone very wrong, she would end up in her own personal hell.

"Nope." Turning around very slowly, a smile very similar to Ia's played around the girl's lips. "I don't care what you want. You can run with the short one but I'm keeping **her**." Throwing the metal pipe away, the platinum blond haired girl slowly undid Ia's binds. Noticing that Yukari was coming closer, she reached beneath her large black skirt and pulled out a small ax. "Think twice about this."

As if one crazy person wasn't bad enough to deal with. No. No, she had to go and ask **another** crazy person to do something for her that would get rid of the first one. Yukari cursed under her breath and waited until the girl had picked up Ia, still holding the ax. She wasn't comfortable attacking her even like that.

"Say hello to Gino for me." A creepy smile, the girl left through the only exit the storage facility had, carrying Ia.

Yukari didn't feel accomplished at all. The plan had been to make it look like a break in, a stalker crime, and have Ia and Seeu get shipped back to Korea since it was supposedly too dangerous to stay. That was the idea. But instead, she got a blown up hotel room, a second crazy person that was now making off with her sister, who was the first crazy person and an injured girl that was Ia's business partner.

What now? Yukari had no idea. She had started an avalanche and now she couldn't stop it.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"If you open your mouth any more than that, we can use it as a wind tunnel, Lily." Gumi was not in the best mood. Waking up and finding Lily and Haku cuddled up together had **really **ticked her off. She knew that it was selfish to think that Lily might keep running after her despite her infatuation with Sonika but deep down, she wasn't really that okay with Lily getting this close with Haku. That was what ticked her off. She was jealous of Haku, however silly that was.

"Will you give it a rest already, Gumi? You've been at my throat today since the moment I woke up." It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. Gumi was obviously pissed at her, probably for spending the night on the couch with Haku and letting the TV run the entire night.

"Must have been a great waking up like that." Gumi didn't even know what she was saying anymore. She hadn't felt jealous before, so what was this now? Was it because it looked like things were getting more serious between the two.

The three of them were in a family restaurant as they didn't have enough at home to have actual breakfast. Haku was sitting next to Lily and Gumi was on the other side of the table. The blonde slammed down her fork and glared at Gumi. "What is **wrong** with you today?"

She didn't know. Averting her eyes and sighing, Gumi shook her head. "Maybe I just slept terrible. I dunno."

"You two shouldn't... fight." Haku spoke up on her own. She cherished Gumi as a friend and she didn't want Lily to be at odds with her roommate over her. There was a much, much bigger problem waiting at her own home.

She couldn't just go on and keep this a secret from Neru. Or keep Neru a secret from Haku. It would be really ugly and she was not prepared for that at all, but it was starting to affect her negatively. The guilt was driving her nuts because, essentially, she was two-timing.

"Can you... walk me home later?" She didn't look at Lily at all. She had no idea what would happen and there was absolutely no **right** time for this but she had to do it. Now. Or at least soon. Hopefully.

"Sure. You're going to work in a bit, right Gumi?" Lily wasn't one to hold grudges but Gumi just didn't look like she was in the mood to talk to her at all.

"Yeah." Giving a really short answer and no more, Gumi finished her breakfast and got up, leaving money on the table. She found it difficult to like herself that morning. Hopefully things would calm down at work. Maybe she should try and call or text Sonika. She never really answered or picked up when she did but at least it meant she was trying.

"Why is she so mad?" Haku bit off part of a pancake while looking to the blonde next to her.

"She's probably pissed we've gotten so close. Before I met you, I told Gumi that if she wants me to date her, she'd need to make the first move because she is... lets just say _otherwise emotionally occupied_." She didn't want to tell Haku that Gumi was in love with her own sister. Something like that usually didn't sit well with people.

"You wanted to date Gumi?" Haku was not too happy about hearing that. She felt a sting in her chest.

"Even if she asked me out now, I'd turn her down. Like I said, before I met you. Right now we're just roommates and friends. Although I'd still pick you over her if she put me on an ultimatum of being with you or being her friend." Although Lily was sure that Gumi would never do something so childish and stupid.

Haku couldn't say anything. What Lily had just said was much more embarrassing than a plain confession. She only knew her for a week, tops, and she was so attached to her... hopefully it would stay that way when she found out about Neru.

"You're blushing so much, it's making even me feel embarrassed." Laughing, Lily poked Haku's cheek with her index finger. "I'll walk you home after this. I have work today but it won't start until almost noon, so I have time."

In truth, Haku wanted to run away from the inevitable confrontation with Neru. She very, very much loved her half-sister for all the years she had taken care of her and everything else. She didn't just love her like any sister would but like one girl could love another. And still, she realized that being with Neru wasn't going to let her get her life back in order any time soon, possibly ever. And Lily... Haku had totally fallen for her. She wanted to be with her, even if it meant becoming estranged from Neru for a while. It would be hard but her life was mostly been hardship until now so that was not much of a change.

In the worst case scenario she would end up all alone and Haku understood that it was a necessary risk. She couldn't just tell Neru she wanted to break up and date Lily. She wasn't strong enough to win an argument with her sister like that. If Lily was there, things would hopefully work themselves out. She trusted the girl.

Thinking like that, she hadn't been optimistic about making her own decisions for a long, long time. She thought that it meant that she was finally recovering from what had happened so many years ago. When her future was ruined and her personality took a turn for the worse. She hadn't even touched alcohol in three days now. With Lily constantly by her side, she didn't **need** it although she did miss the taste somewhat.

Things were gonna be fine. She really hoped that to be true. She wanted it to be true.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"So what are we gonna do with her?" Yukari had been joined by Gino, a man that was taking care of a lot of... delicate business. "And where did that freak you hired go to? She ran off with one of them!"

"If Mayu took her things are going to be problematic." He looked at his wristwatch and wondered if he would make it in time for an important lunch meeting. "I can give you her address but she is not exactly very agreeable to hand over things she takes a liking too. She is rather obsessive about them."

"Really? **Who would have thought**." Yukari was utterly pissed. "What is she gonna do with her? She can't just kidnap a popular idol like that."

"I know better than to stick my nose into her business, Yu. She is basically the one we call when things get rough. And she was the only one I could call for this job." He checked his wristwatch again just before pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. "This is her address. I had it prepared just in case something happened. I have to go and meet someone now. Just wake the other one up and tell her you found her like this. You're a good liar, you'll be able to sell the story just fine." Without another word he walked off, indifferent to the outcome of the whole affair.

Looking at Seeu, Yukari wanted to just call the cops, leave and be done with it. But her fortune for that day truly was horrible. Before she could turn around, the blonde woke up, groaning and struggling against her binds.

Gambling on the possibility that she couldn't see her yet, Yukari hurried out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She only had to call the police and tip them off now. That was the best choice.

Back inside the room, the blonde was slowly starting to recall what had happened. A loud noise suddenly woke her and Ia, both of them immediately jumped by several people taller than them, masked and dressed completely in black.

She only saw Ia bite the hand of one of them and managed to get free, grabbing the lamp from the night desk and slamming it right into the face of another one. Struggling herself, someone hit her several times until she could barely see anymore. A blur was fighting several shadows and all of a sudden the background caught on fire. That was the last thing she could remember before passing out. It all happened so fast that she couldn't even tell how many people there were or what exactly happened to Ia.

It just had to happen. The one time Ia was nice to her would led to both of them being attacked, and probably kidnapped. Her entire body was hurting all over. It only took her a few seconds to notice that she was bound to a chair and that the room wasn't very bright. "Ia?"

That she didn't just call for anyone or her family or even just her manager or the police, that she called for Ia specifically, made her realize that the last night, when Ia had been nice to her had been the first time in several days that she had felt appreciated. But she wasn't so delusional that she thought it was real. But even so... she wanted to see her right now.

Looking around, she noticed the second, empty chair. Parts of plastic were still attached to the back of it. Someone else had been tied to it, she had seen this in dozens of movies before. But the empty chair was virtually everything that was in the room beside her. It was spacious, big enough to park two large vans side by side, and yet there was nothing in the room. "Help!" Shouting, Seeu got no response at all. Even after calling out a dozen more times, nothing happened.

She got scared. The binds were too tight to get them off and if they had just abandoned her... what if they were out and... disposing of Ia? Turning pale, Seeu panicked and try to break free, only managing to fall over and hit the ground face first. The chair was still tied to her legs and arms so she couldn't even get up.

It was too much. All alone, possibly abandoned, in a place she didn't know, tied up and beaten, Seeu just couldn't handle all of that after being subject to Ia's continuous abuse for a week. Not when she had finally treated her like a human being.

Sobbing loudly, the girl winced when she got a cramp in her right leg because of the awkward position she was in. Several minutes passed, Seeu loudly crying by herself, until she finally gave up. No matter what she did, it looked like she was destined to live a horrible disappointment of a life.

She had gone to Seoul to make it big as an idol and failed. Alone, she was barely able to keep over water. Teaming up with Ia, her personal life had gone to shit, even though she was more successful. Then even that got worse. Ia and she had to move in together in order to keep their career. And that was the finishing stroke for any personal happiness she might have had. Now she had been kidnapped, beaten and probably left to die all alone.

Despair rolled over her like a tremendous wave, swallowing her up. Why did it even matter if she kicked the bucket right here? If she went back, all that was waiting for her was more abuse and a job she just wanted to quit already. But she couldn't. She was too scared of losing the last bit that made her more than just another nobody.

She didn't even realize that someone had entered the room until she suddenly fell flat on the ground, untied from the chair. Looking up, she saw a purple haired girl with a very annoyed expression. "Can you stand?"

Slowly getting up, Seeu was a little shaky on her feet but she could stand. "Who-" She didn't even get to ask who had just saved her. The girl grabbed her hand and dragged her away.

"We can talk later" What was she doing? Going all the way to the next pay phone, inserting the coins and two of three numbers dialed, she suddenly got a guilty conscience. It was her sister that started this whole mess, even though it was her own fault that things had gotten so out of hand. She felt that she had to at least get this girl back herself.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

The whole world around her was just noise. The TV that ran in the background, the announcer's voice from the radio next doors, the voices from the two girls right in front of her. It was all a loud, beeping noise and she couldn't understand any of it. Half an hour ago, she had brought Lily in and it hadn't taken more than ten minutes before Neru and Lily were almost figuratively at each others throat.

Screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, throwing random objects, pushing and slapping, they were completely out of control. She just sat there, bewildered that the two girls she loved the most would act like this. Lily reached out and pulled Neru by her air, her expression looking like she was about to punch her in the face.

Haku didn't know what to say, what to do. She just sat there, helpless and despairing that after this, there would be no reconciling between these two. Not the way they were yelling at each other. They had been at it for nearly a third of an hour and they were out of breath but still incredibly angry.

Pushing Neru away, the shorter girl stumbled, fell and hit a small closet, Lily towering over her. "You know what? **Fuck you!**" Those were Lily's final words before storming out of he room, not bothering to stop and put on her shoes, simply taking them in her hands and leaving, slamming the door shut with so much force that Haku flinched.

Looking to her sister, the short blonde got up, walked straight past Haku and didn't even stop to look at her before slamming the door to her own room shut. Haku was scared that she was going to lose both of them like this. Getting up, putting on shoes and leaving, Haku saw Lily repeatedly kick a street sign in anger, not even a dozen meters away from the building.

Going after her, Haku had no idea what to say but she couldn't just let her walk away. Catching up with Lily, she just stood there, quietly, her head lowered. **She** was in the wrong here. Lily had done nothing to earn Neru's wrath and it wasn't Neru's fault that Lily didn't know about Haku's relationship with her. If she had told Lily she was already seeing someone...

But instead of lashing out against Haku, Neru and Lily blamed each other.

"Are you really just gonna stand there and say **nothing**, Haku?" Lily was pissed to the max. Why the hell had Haku kept this a secret? Well, she knew **why**, but why did she not make any attempts to turn her down?

"I... wanted you to know because... because I want to be with you... not Neru." She took a step back.

"And you thought that confronting me with **her** was a good way to go about it? You could have just told her you want to break up!" Lily was mad at Haku, there was no doubt at that at all. "I didn't need to know you're actually sisters and have been sleeping with each other for **years**! Do you have any idea how fucking stupid I feel right now?" And that wasn't all of it. She had learned a few other things she could have lived well without knowing.

"Neru and I... we're just..." Haku didn't know how to properly explain it.

"You're just what? Sisters? She's your comfort blanket? Sex buddies? I actually haven't the faintest, even after all that!" Lily couldn't believe what had just happened in the last half thirty minutes. "I'm **going**." She couldn't even look at Haku right now, no matter how pretty she was.

That was enough of a trigger to make Haku do something. Reaching out and grabbing Lily's arm, she had tears running down her cheeks. "Don't leave me!"

"I'm going to cool off and **think**. I suggest you go home and think about what you really want from me." Pulling free, Lily tried to calm down a little, with minuscule success. "I'm not saying some stupid shit like I'll never even talk to you again but try to imagine what I feel like right now." Turning around and leaving, Lily hissed at a passerby, who almost jumped on the street.

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

Miku and Luka had caused a massive fuss at the agency, showing up while they were technically excused for having been in an accident. And to top that, they demanded to see the top brass, both of them threatening to break their contract and go to a rival agency. As they had brought in Gumi, she would likely leave as well. No matter what, they couldn't ignore them like this.

Gathering all the important people in the more than fully packed conference room, Miku and Luka stood side by side at the end of the table, several of the higher level employees forced to stand behind others that sat. "What is this about?" The very top of the agency was not looking very pleased.

Taking Luka's hand, Miku came out and said it in front of everyone. "We're a couple." Nobody seemed surprised in the least by this.

"Yes. And?" The chief didn't like his time being wasted.

"You knew?!" Miku was just standing there, surprised herself.

"Miss Megurine has been cause for many headlines in the past. We keep an eye on her, discreetly. We're well aware of your... relationship."

"That makes this easy then." Luka helped Miku out. "Unless we're allowed to make this official and known to the public, we're quitting and going to Sony." Giving a name was better than just saying _a rival company_. It implied they didn't just decide this in the heat of the moment.

The chief looked to his sub-chief in charge of public relations, who adjusted his glasses. "Considering the popularity of the Korean group U-SAI, I think it would in fact even boost their popularity."

"As this is your selfish demand, you will be supplying a duet that matches the announcement. And next time, talk to your manager. I do not appreciate having to cancel my golfing schedule." Getting up, he glared at Luka. "Present your duet within a week."

"I already have something in mind. I'm calling it _Ladies First_."

"I'll be waiting for the results of your enthusiasm."

Five minutes later, Miku and Luka were sitting in the break room, Miku sitting on Luka's lap, her arms loosely put around the pink haired girl's neck. "This is super embarrassing, Luka." Miku was happy she didn't have to hide anymore but Luka was completely out of control now.

"Just give me a moment. Those damn old farts. They knew about us and we were constantly hiding even at work." Kissing her girlfriend's cheek, Luka sighed. "I made the track name up on a whim. Writing a song for this in a week will be hard."

"We're in this together." Patting Luka's head, Miku got off her lap when her cellphone started vibrating. Coincidentally, Luka's started ringing at the same time. "Yes?"

Showing her cell to Miku for a second, a goofy image of Lily was showing on it with the words _Lily is calling_ on it, Luka picked up as well.

"Where are you Luka? I really need someone to talk to." Lily's voice was cracking a lot. She was either drunk or very sick.

"I'm at work. Well, not really working, just showed up to do stuff. Where are you at?"

"The bar a few streets down from there." A brief moment of silence and she heard Lily gulp down something. She wasn't 21 yet, so how in the world was she drinking at a bar? "Can you come over?"

Looking at Miku, who was looked worried while just listening to whoever was calling, Luka sighed. "I don't need to be a fortune teller to see this is related to Haku. It **is**, isn't it? Because Miku just got a call, too, and she looks really worried and hasn't said a word."

There was a very long moment of silence before Lily was heard drinking again and letting out an enormous sigh. "Yes. It's... **really** complicated. And you best brace yourself for Miku being quite bewildered, too. Because this sort of involves her, too."

"I'll be there in a bit. Since Miku is talking to Haku, I assume she is, that means she isn't with you?"

"She's probably home." Lily sighed again. "This is such a big fucking mess." She didn't curse often, but in a situation like this, she was well within her rights to do it.

"Which bar are you at?"

"Hell Gate." It was a not much of a car girls would go to but the barkeep didn't ask too many questions and there was never too much business. The ideal place to be grumpy after a huge argument. "See you in a bit." Lily hung up.

Miku was still on the phone. "She just called Luka so I'll have her talk some sense into- no, Haku, don't, you're just gonna- I **know** you want to fix this but- Will you let me finish at least one sentence?" Sighing, Miku took a deep breath. "I'll be home in ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Luka is gonna talk to Lily. I'll talk to Neru. No, I'm not mad. Okay then." Hanging up, Miku looked to Luka. "This is **your** karma of partying and not being serious enough catching up with us."

"I think this sounds a bit more serious than that." Luka switched to more somber tone. "She's at a pretty shady bar right now, probably drinking. She did sound like it. I'll get her out of there and take her back home. That okay with you?"

"You're asking for my **permission**?" Miku was now very worried. "Haku was in tears and sobbing like crazy on the phone. I have a distinct feeling that this day won't be as fun as I imagined it would be."

"I think that feeling of yours is pretty accurate."

~~~ Hear my Song! ~~~

"Just go to the hotel and call your manager." Yukari was trying to send Seeu on her way. The longer she was staying with the, the bigger the risk they would see her as an accomplice to the kidnappers.

"I can't go back without Ia..." As much as the girl tormented her, she couldn't do her job without Ia. And without her job, she didn't have a place to go back to unless she went all the way back to her family, way out on the land.

Desperately holding on to Yukari's hand, Seeu, most of all, didn't want to be left alone in this situation. "She hates me but... I can't go back without her. And... please don't leave me alone." Slowly lowering her head, Seeu wished she had never tasted success and fame. She could have just stopped doing all of this.

Yukari disliked trouble more than anything else in the world but she was not so inhumane that she would push a girl away that was desperately in need of someone by her side. Sighing slightly, she would let the girl hold her hand for a while longer. But what was she to do? Showing up at that Mayu's place wasn't going to end well. Even if she was armed, that girl was practically a villain for hire. If Ia was obsessed and doing crazy things because of that, this one was just doing it because she wanted to.

For the time being she saw little other sensible choice but to take her back to her own _place_. "Ia is... occupied with someone else." _Being her prisoner, actually_. "You should still somehow tell your manager that you're okay. It's all over the news."

"They took my cellphone." She had never used a pay phone before and didn't even know whether they actually existed in Japan. She was enlightened about a minute later.

"Call your manager, tell them you're safe and that you're hiding with a friend you met over the internet a while ago until things have calmed down. Ia is with a distant relative of hers." _She is actually with an insane criminal that is probably stripping her naked this very moment_, Yukari thought, but she couldn't feel pity. Maybe Ia would learn what it meant to rob someone of their freedom after this, even though she never intended things to spiral this far out of control.

Seeu did exactly as she was told, to the letter. It was almost a bit disturbing how perfectly she followed the order. Standing behind Seeu, Yukari found a hair tie in her pocket, pulling Seeu's hair into a single, massive ponytail, revealing her nape. It was like a cluster of hickeys. Adjusting the ponytail a bit, to hide them, Yukari wondered where they had come from.

After Seeu was done calling, the other side probably in a massive uproar and confusion, she turned around, instinctively waiting for other orders until she realized that she wasn't looking at Ia.

Yukari recognized that look in her eyes. And she felt sick just seeing it. Turning away, grabbing her hand, she pulled the Korean idol along. There were some signs but she couldn't tell for sure unless she asked. "How is Ia at work and in her private time?" Yukari suspected that the two girls would have spend at least some time together.

To Ia she was not even human. "She takes my stuff... forces me to have sex with her... treats me like a doll... but I'm used to it now... it's been like that day and night for a week... even at work..."

Yukari gradually slowed down until she was standing completely still. "I figured she wouldn't be nice... but she is abusing you day and night?"

"I can't stand up to her... she threatens to destroy my stuff or leak images of me in the shower on the net... she is awful..." She had never told anyone about this. But for some reason, it easily spilled out in front of this girl. Two weeks ago she would have wanted to disinfect her hand after being touched by a Japanese person. Maybe the torment Ia unleashed on her was punishment for being a racist against the Japanese. Maybe it was because Ia was actually from Japan.

She couldn't tell her that the monster with the name Ia was her sister. Her flesh and blood. That it was likely her fault, for running away, that had turned Ia into such a tyrannical and abusive human being. But now she was certain that she couldn't just leave this girl on her own. It was silly of her to feel responsible for what her sister did to the girl but she couldn't help it. Seeu had that same broken soul look in her eyes that Yukari had seen in her own eyes, years ago.

"I'm taking you to my place." _But I don't know how we're gonna get Ia back_. And there was something else that went through her head. Leaving Ia in Mayu's _care_ for a while on purpose. There was no way the managers and police would buy the story for more than a few hours but she was good at not being found. Unless an obsessive sister was going after her.

A day or two, with Seeu calling in from pay phones to make sure they didn't think she was being held captive, of imprisonment could help Ia change her ways. At least it was worth a try. And considering she had raped her own sister, her co-worker and probably done other horrible things, she really deserved some harsh treatment.

Seeu followed Yukari like a lost puppy. She didn't know where else to go and the girl was really nice to her, too. "Whats your name?"

"I'm Yu." Many people called her that so even if they called her Yukari it wouldn't be suspicious. Giving Seeu her real name was just too dangerous. Even if she wanted to help the girl, she didn't want to give up the usually peaceful life she had.

Walking through back alleys and sparsely populated areas for about ten minutes, Yukari finally brought Seeu back to _her apartment_. "Wait here for a bit. I need to talk to the others." She hadn't told Seeu yet that they were a bunch of homeless girls.

Cul and Galaco weren't inside. Instead, a note was on the table, telling Yukari that they were out, earning a bit of their stay by picking up bottles in the park. Looking outside, Seeu was nowhere to be seen.

Leaving her apartment, Yukari wondered where she had ran off to. Considering how roughed up she was and the changed hairstyle, nobody should have recognized her. Who'd think that a Korean idol would run around with a homeless girl, anyway?

Turning around, she found her lost girl. Sitting on the ground, almost curled up, Seeu was resting her head on her knees, exhausted. She had been wearing a horrible mismatch of her own clothes and Ia's since they had been almost naked when they were attacked. It was likely that the kidnappers just put some random clothes on her.

"They're not in. Get up. I'll give you something to drink. It's just water, though." She felt a little bad that she couldn't offer something better than the abode of a homeless girl to Seeu. After everything Ia must have put her through, she deserved that someone was nice to her.

"Why are you nice to me?" That someone was treating her well without really knowing her at all seemed bewildering to Seeu. Ia had treated her so horribly... it was hard to just believe that there existed nice people anymore.

"I met Ia a few years ago. She was pretty horrible even then, but she wouldn't go this far." Extending her hand towards the blonde, Yukari waited for her to take it.

"Did she torment you too?" Hearing that she wasn't the only one that Ia was horrible towards really made her happy for some reason. So it wasn't just she who Ia hated. There were others that shared the same fate.

"I ran away from home before she could get to me." _And by that I mean, sleep with me._. She had little doubt that Ia needed some seriously strong medicine, and she didn't mean the medicament type, to make her change. "Come, get up."

Seeu finally took the hand of her new ally. That was how she saw Yukari. Someone who was also on the receiving end of Ia's hate stick. Getting up and following her into the run down room, she was surprised that she would live in such a place. Being handed a water bottle, the label long gone from the plastic, she sat down next to the small table in the middle of the room. "Do you live here with others?" There were four sleeping bags on the floor but only three of them were showing signs of being regularly used. Not that she was an expert on that. She judged that a sleeping bag that was looking so neat wasn't being used much. And only one of the four matched that description.

"A redhead and one that must have had a seizure in a paint shop. They're both runaways too."

"I wish I could run away..." She had no self-esteem left to believe she could do anything. Even performing on stage, singing and dancing, those were just things that had been ingrained into her body. It wasn't something she consciously paid effort to.

"It's not always the right choice." _It probably is usually the wrong choice, but I'm not in any position to say that_. "I'll let you stay here for today, maybe even tomorrow. But you have to go back when... Ia shows up." She didn't want to expose the girl to her sister's horrible behavior, but when it came down to Seeu or herself, she would chose self-preservation.

It was still early in the day, around noon, so she would have plenty of time to ask Seeu about Ia and what she was like when not around her sister and acting like a madman.

"I wonder what happened to the people that kidnapped Ia and me..." Seeu was worried they might come after her again.

"They probably got cold feet." She knew better but she couldn't exactly tell Seeu that it was **her** fault that those two got kidnapped. Even though she only wanted a good cause for them to get flown back to Korea soon.

"Thank you for saving me. I really thought... I was gonna die there." Hugging her knee again, she had never before felt as alone than at that moment. She was truly happy that Yukari had come to help her. "But how did you know I was there?"

"I saw some people carry you in. I just happened to pass by when they showed up. I waited until they left and made sure they weren't coming back before I went in." It was a complete lie but the truth would just hurt the girl. Sometimes it was better to just not know everything.

"I always thought pretty lowly of Japanese but... you're really nice." Seeu tried to smile a little but it only looked awkward. Looking a bit depressed again, Seeu started to fidget a little. "Can... can I hug you?" Even though she should have hated Ia with every fiber of her soul, she still longed for that embrace that made her feel like someone cared for her.

Sighing but smiling afterward, Yukari sat down next to the roughed up blonde and laid one arm around her. "This okay? I'm not really the touchy type." It wasn't that she disliked Seeu. She was just wary of physical contact with people she didn't know.

Nodding softly, Seeu rested her head against Yukari's shoulder. "This feels really familiar..." Smiling again, this time it wasn't forced at all. She felt genuinely happy like this.

~~~ End of Concert XVIII ~~~


End file.
